Brother Charged in Attempted Murder After Sister’s Death

Javan Weatherspoon, aged 34, is now facing charges of attempted first-degree murder. Chicago police arrested him following allegations that he attacked a woman he accused of knowing details about his sister’s death. His sister, Zenobia Weatherspoon, was found dead earlier this month in a garbage can on the city’s South Side. Her official cause of death remains undetermined as investigations continue.

Zenobia Weatherspoon, who was 38, had been missing since July 10. Authorities discovered her body in an alley in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. As of the latest updates from Thursday afternoon, police have not provided further information regarding her death.

“Since finding his sister’s body, Javan Weatherspoon suspected the woman of having information about his sister’s demise.”

In court on Thursday, Prosecutors claimed Javan Weatherspoon confronted a 45-year-old woman in a parking lot in the 5400 block of South Halsted Street. Surveillance footage allegedly shows Weatherspoon exiting a liquor store and approaching the woman, shouting accusations about her knowledge of his sister’s fate. The woman, a friend of Zenobia, was one of the first to discover her body.

During the confrontation, the woman denied knowing any further details about the death. Allegedly, Weatherspoon hit her in the head with a small firearm, which led her to fall to the ground. Prosecutors say Weatherspoon then shot her once in the left pelvic area. As she lay there, he walked away but yelled at a group of people nearby before returning to fire another shot that missed. A witness alerted the police.

The woman was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, suffering from a gunshot wound to her left hip and a head fracture. Officers on-site recovered a .22-caliber shell casing.

Law enforcement apprehended Javan Weatherspoon on Wednesday near his residence in the 800 block of West 54th Place. He remains in custody awaiting trial and will appear in court again on July 29.

The Cook County public defender’s office has assigned an assistant to represent him. They emphasized the case is still in its early stages, and legal outcomes may evolve as further investigations proceed. Attempts to contact Weatherspoon’s family were unsuccessful.