Five friends were walking back from a bar early on the morning of March 14 when a black Jeep Grand Cherokee cut them off in the heart of River North and five armed men jumped out, launching a robbery that left one woman pistol-whipped and sent detectives following a trail of digital breadcrumbs that has now resulted in an arrest.
Prosecutors have charged 20-year-old Davion Rigsbee with multiple felonies, including four counts of armed robbery, and Judge D’Anthony Thedford ordered him detained pending trial.
The victims, some from Chicago and others visiting from the Los Angeles area, had been walking toward a River North apartment where two of them lived when the SUV pulled up in the 200 block of West Huron Street. Rigsbee approached a 25-year-old woman in the group and pointed a gun at her, demanding her property, according to a detention filing. She dropped to the ground and held onto her belongings. When Rigsbee yanked her purse and the strap snapped, he struck her in the back of the head with his gun, prosecutors allege.
At the same time, another robber held a gun to the head of a 23-year-old woman in the group, according to police. As she struggled to remove her crossbody purse, she managed to slip her phone into her waistband before handing over the bag, prosecutors said. The man patted her down, and she tossed her phone and sunglasses to the ground. He left both behind.
A third robber pointed a gun at a 24-year-old man in the group, who emptied his pockets. The robber collected that victim’s keys, wallet and iPhone 17. Two more members of the group, a 26-year-old man and another man in his mid-20s, were robbed by the remaining two suspects, officials said.
The five robbers then returned to the Jeep and drove away. Police determined the SUV had been stolen from Uptown shortly before the robbery.
Detectives used license plate reader data to track the vehicle’s movements before and after the holdup, according to prosecutors. They located surveillance video showing the Jeep involved in a separate robbery around 7 a.m. and eventually found footage showing Rigsbee and three other men getting out of the Jeep and entering a home in the 1500 block of South Spaulding Avenue, prosecutors said. Rigsbee was allegedly seen using a key to unlock the door. The other three men soon left, while Rigsbee remained inside.
Investigators found another link between the robbery and the home: One of the robbery victims’ credit cards was used to order food deliveries to the address twice within two days of the crime, prosecutors said. A clothing order placed using the same card was tied to an email address that contained Rigsbee’s full name and was registered through a North Lawndale College Prep High School student account, according to prosecutors.
Investigators also obtained a search warrant for Rigsbee’s phone. Its location data allegedly placed the phone within a block of the robbery as the crime was happening.
So far, Rigsbee is the only person facing charges in the case.
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