Davonta Curtis
Age 319 Apr 2026
Chicago, Illinois (USA)
Beaten
Davonta, 31, was found shot and killed the night of 5 April 2026 in Chicago, along with blunt force injuries to her head inside her apartment. Her boyfriend, 24 year old Devante Bell, was charged with first degree murder in her death by authorities.
Davonta Curtis, a Black transgender woman from Chicago, was beaten to death in her apartment on the night of April 5. She was 31 years old.
Police have arrested Curtis’ alleged killer Deandre Bell, 24, and charged him this week with first-degree murder and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to CW news affiliate WGN. Initial media reports of Curtis’ death last week misgendered her as a man.
Bell, who according to court documents was Curtis’ on-again, off-again boyfriend, allegedly Googled “how to kill someone with a hammer” and “if a person gets hit in the head with a hammer while sleeping what happens” before murdering Curtis, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Tuesday. Bell and Curtis were seen on video together earlier in the day on April 5, when the two visited Curtis’ sister’s home to drop off Easter supplies, per WGN. They later returned to Curtis’ apartment, with Bell seen on surveillance footage leaving the building alone around 1 a.m.
Curtis’ sister found her body on April 8 and notified police, who say they found Bell in possession of Curtis’ car and keys, as well as a bloody hammer. Bell allegedly confessed to killing Curtis and taking her money, phone, and car, per the Sun-Times. An examination by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office found that Curtis died due to multiple blunt force injuries.
Bell was ordered held in jail pending trial this week. A first-degree murder charge in Illinois carries a possible sentence between 20 and 60 years in prison.
Curtis’ murder is at least the second violent killing of a Black trans or gender-nonconforming person this year. In March, activist and drag performer Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray was shot and killed in Virginia, but no arrests have been announced since.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/04/09/man-slain-in-garfield-park-neighborhood-apartment
https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/chicago-man-charged-in-west-side-murder/
https://nbjc.org/nbjc-mourns-the-stolen-life-of-davonta-curtis/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/14/woman-killed-hammer-charges/
