A 66-year-old man who was convicted of first-degree murder as a juvenile 50 years ago is now accused of beating and stabbing his 88-year-old mother to death and hiding her body behind a bookcase in the basement of their Far South Side home.
Kevan Works was ordered detained on Friday by Cook County Judge Rivanda Doss Beal on charges of first-degree murder and concealment of the homicidal death of his mother, Daniest Graves.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said Graves went silent on March 27, failing to send her daily “good morning” texts to her sister, missing work, and skipping a planned grocery store outing. When she also failed to show up for Palm Sunday church services, her sister took a cab to the home Graves shared with Works. He seemed “startled” to see her and physically blocked her from entering, Pekara said.
Graves’ sister asked the police to conduct a wellness check. Works told officers that he had not seen his mother since she left for work on March 27, and he claimed to have filed a missing person report — but said he didn’t have a report number. He also claimed her bedroom door was locked, and Pekara said he was reluctant to turn on the lights in the house or provide information about Graves’ car.
At the request of CPD, Chicago Fire Department personnel forced their way into Graves’ bedroom. She was not there, but her phone was found inside, and police launched a missing person investigation.
On March 30, investigators located Graves’ car in a West Side parking lot. Pekara said that led them to a witness who told police she had given Works and an unknown White woman crack cocaine on March 27 — the day Graves went missing — in exchange for using the car.
After multiple interviews and visits to Graves’ home, police executed a search warrant at the residence on April 7. In the basement, they found a room blocked by a large bookcase, Pekara said. After police moved it, cadaver dogs entered the room and made a positive alert for human remains. Investigators subsequently found Graves’ body inside the room, rolled up in a large area rug, partially wrapped in black garbage bags that were secured with duct tape. Police found more than a dozen cans of air freshener in the basement, where Works’ bedroom was also located.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Graves suffered a catastrophic head injury and 17 blunt force injuries.
Ring video from a neighbor’s home showed that the only person to enter the house between March 26 and April 7 was Works, except for an unknown woman who was there for about 90 minutes on March 27, Pekara noted.
Works has a lengthy criminal history. In addition to his 1976 juvenile adjudication for first-degree murder, he has felony convictions for forgery in 1980, 1981, and 1987; burglary in 1980; and federal bank robbery in 2007, according to Pekara.
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