CHICAGO, IL – A 26-year-old woman was taken into custody after allegedly stabbing her 7-year-old son with a kitchen knife in response to him making a mess in their home, police reported.
Llovana Torres is facing charges of aggravated battery to a child following an incident that unfolded on Saturday morning in a residential area on the 1700 block of West Touhy Street. According to Cook County prosecutors, Torres had stayed up cleaning the apartment only to find it untidy the next morning, allegedly prompting a violent reaction.
Irritated by the mess, Torres reportedly struck her son multiple times before he fled to the kitchen, seeking refuge in a cabinet beneath the sink, prosecutors stated. Unable to extract him from his hiding place, Torres allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed into the cabinet until her son cried out in pain.
After realizing her son was injured and bleeding, Torres carried him downstairs to her mother’s apartment. There, Torres was urged by her mother to take the child to the hospital immediately, prosecutors indicated. She subsequently transported him to Evanston Hospital.
Due to the severity of his injuries, including a ruptured diaphragm, the boy was airlifted to a specialized children’s hospital where emergency surgery was performed. He remains hospitalized with significant medical interventions, including a chest tube and ventilator.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives collected statements from Torres’ mother and an 11-year-old cousin. The cousin reportedly overheard Torres threatening to harm the child if he didn’t come out from the cabinet, and later attempting to persuade her mother to provide a misleading account of the incident to the police.
In an interview following her Miranda rights, Torres purportedly claimed that the stabbing was accidental, describing it as an unintended result of her actions while trying to locate her son with the knife. She directed authorities to the knife used in the incident, which was subsequently recovered by police.
Following a court hearing on Monday, Torres was remanded into custody without bail. She is set to appear in court next on June 13.