In a chilling encounter that began with a gay dating app hookup, a young man from Whiting found himself battling for survival after a vicious hammer attack inside an abandoned home in West Pullman, officials said.
Details of the crime, which occurred on March 23, 2024, are now emerging as prosecutors charge Carl Sturdivant, a multi-convicted felon, with attempted murder and robbery.
In a detention filing, prosecutors said the 24-year-old Indiana man connected with Carl Sturdivant, 44, through the gay dating site Sniffies.com, agreeing to meet at a Motel 6 in Hammond for a sexual encounter.
Officials stated the victim drove his mother’s white Chevy to the motel and entered the room where Sturdivant waited with two unidentified men. The group used marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and the victim had sex with Sturdivant and one of the other men, according to prosecutors. Eventually, their drug supply ran out.
Determined to continue, Sturdivant and the victim got into the Chevy, with Sturdivant allegedly directing him to a drug house. After Sturdivant purchased narcotics, they went to his home for more consensual sex and drug use, per the detention papers. But their supply ran dry again.
This time, Sturdivant directed the victim to an abandoned house in the 11500 block of South Princeton, claiming they could obtain more drugs there, prosecutors alleged. The victim, at Sturdivant’s invitation, joined him inside the house.
Yo!” Sturdivant yelled, as if to get someone’s attention. No one responded.
They descended to the basement, and prosecutors say that’s when things went sideways.
According to the victim, the last thing he remembers is seeing Sturdivant turn toward him in the basement. He later awoke in the kitchen, lying on the blood-soaked kitchen floor, wearing only a jock strap, prosecutors said. His clothes were in the hallway, and his iPhone, AirPods, wallet, and his mother’s car were gone.
Slipping in and out of consciousness, he screamed for help until a neighbor heard his cries and called 911. He was rushed to Christ Advocate Hospital in Oak Lawn with chipped teeth, multiple skull fractures, and brain hemorrhaging caused by blunt force trauma. He underwent two brain surgeries.
Chicago police found the victim’s mother’s car a block away from the abandoned house. They recovered a bloody hammer from a nearby garbage can and two phones from the vehicle, one allegedly linked to Sturdivant. Prosecutors said DNA testing revealed Sturdivant’s DNA and the victim’s blood on the hammer.
Days after police returned the car to the victim’s mother, she contacted detectives, reporting unfamiliar clothes in the vehicle. One item, a sweatshirt, contained mail bearing Sturdivant’s name and address, prosecutors said.
When questioned by detectives last month, Sturdivant denied involvement, claiming he had rented the white Chevy from a man named Mike and had no connection to the victim, the detention filing said.
“I don’t hang out with no dude,” he allegedly told the detectives. “I don’t chase butt, dude.”
Judge James Costello reviewed the evidence and ordered Sturdivant detained pending trial on charges of attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Sturdivant was already in custody for an unrelated felony shoplifting case. According to court records, his previous felony convictions include a 20-year sentence for a 2006 robbery, a 2000 criminal sexual assault, and narcotics charges in 2000 and 2003.
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