By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Trae Chatmon | Chicago Police
An 18-year-old man forced his way into 89-year-old Josephine Johnson's Washington Park apartment, stabbed her to death, robbed her and then set the apartment on fire, according to Chicago Police.has been charged with stabbing an elderly woman to death before setting her Washington Park neighborhood apartment on fire last week on the South Side.
Trae Chatmon has been charged with first-degree murder for killing Johnson last week, police said.
Chatmon forced his way into Johnson's apartment in the 5100 block of South Michigan Avenue during the early hours of Oct. 26, according to police. He struck her in the head with an object and then stabbed her multiple times.
Josephine Johnson | Facebook
Chatmon then ransacked the apartment and set it on fire before leaving with several items of Johnson's property, police said.
Her body was discovered by firefighters in the first-floor apartment at 2:50 a.m., authorities said. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 3:03 a.m.
An autopsy found she died of multiple blunt and sharp force injuries from an assault, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
A man, also thought to be in his 80s, was on the third floor when firefighters arrived. He was suffering from smoke inhalation and was taken in serious-to-critical condition to the University of Chicago.
Chatmon, of the 4900 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, was already in custody at the Cook County Jail on a separate charge, police said. He is scheduled to appear in bond court Thursday.