Son charged in murder of 88-year-old Chicago woman found in basement

Daniest Graves, 88, was found dead in the basement of her Roseland home hidden behind a bookcase, and Chicago police later ruled her death a homicide as prosecutors charged her son with killing her.

Kevan Works, 66, was charged with first-degree murder and concealing a death after investigators found Graves on April 7 in the 10700 block of South Lafayette Avenue on Chicago’s Far South Side. Authorities said she was discovered unresponsive, wrapped in a rug, and pronounced dead at the scene. Court reporting added that the body had been partially enclosed in black garbage bags and secured with duct tape inside a basement room concealed behind a large bookcase.

The case began as a missing-person search. Graves was last seen on March 26 or March 27, depending on the report, after going shopping with her sister. Family members said she failed to send her usual 4 a.m. prayer text, missed work, and did not make it to planned Palm Sunday church services. When her sister went to check on her, prosecutors said Works blocked her from entering the house. He later told police he had last seen his mother on March 27.

Investigators said the shift from disappearance to homicide came once the body was found and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office classified the death as a homicide. An autopsy found 17 blunt force injuries, including defensive wounds and cuts to Graves’ forearm and thumb. Police also reportedly recovered a folding-blade knife, brass knuckles, a hammer, a butcher knife, and a large bottle of bleach from the home. A cadaver-sniffing dog alerted in the basement room where the body was hidden.

Prosecutors said Works had been living with Graves since Thanksgiving 2025. They also said Graves’ car was later tracked to a West Side parking lot, and that a person using the car told investigators she had traded crack cocaine for it and driven Works and a white woman back to the Roseland home.

The killing stunned Graves’ family and neighbors who described her as active, social, and still bowling weekly. Her son Michael Works said she had even earned a degree in computer technology at age 80. A relative also said Kevan Works had once been accused of murder as a juvenile about 50 years ago, and that Graves had previously stepped in to help him then.

Works was detained as prosecutors argued the case posed a danger to witnesses, the community, and his family.