Joliet Murder Defendant Celebrates 18th Birthday With Transfer To Will County Jail

JOLIET, IL — Tuesday marked the transfer of Jaevion Smith to the Will County Jail now that the Joliet first-degree murder defendant has turned 18 years old. Since May, authorities have kept Jaevion housed in the River Valley Juvenile Detention Facility off McDonough Street.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office charged Smith back in May as an adult with first-degree murder following a deadly stabbing of another Joliet teenager. However, Smith could not be booked into the Will County Jail until this week when he celebrated his 18th birthday, making him a legal adult.

"Due to the level of criminal offense, Smith will be charged as an adult," Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English said in late May.

At that time, Joliet Patch reported that more than three weeks after a Joliet teenager lost his life after being hospitalized at St. Joe's with stab wounds, the Joliet Police Department obtained an arrest warrant to take another 17-year-old into custody.

First-degree murder defendant Jaevion Smith lives in the 1800 block of Delrose Street in Joliet, which is near Essington Road and Thomas Hickey Drive. The warrant listed Smith as being 5-foot-4 and 109 pounds.

The criminal complaint alleges that Smith killed another Joliet teenager, Javion Bailey, on May 3 by stabbing the other teen with a knife, "knowing such act created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to Javion Bailey, thereby causing the death of Javion Bailey."

According to the obituary shared by Joliet's Minor-Morris Funeral Home, Javion Bailey, 17, died on May 4 at St. Joseph Hospital. "Javion was a junior at Joliet Central High School, where he was known for his infectious laugh and kind heart. He was deeply passionate about basketball, video games, and music. He cherished spending time with his best friends, Jarvais Reeves, Jaheim Reeves, and Massiah Morrow, along with his special cousins, Ruben Porter Jr., Shanitra Kuykendoll, and Monasia Barnes. Javion was also a part of the Illinois Youth and Family Program," his obituary said.

In early May, Joliet Patch reported that Joliet police officers responded to the Riverwalk Homes Apartments in the 300 block of North Broadway Street for a daytime stabbing around 1 p.m. The officers found the 17-year-old Bailey on the fifth floor of 366 N. Broadway St. He had sustained a serious stab wound. The victim was transported by the Joliet Fire Department to St. Joseph Medical Center, where he later died.

English said the officers secured the scene and conducted a canvass of the area. A knife was recovered at the scene. By the end of May, English issued his updated press conference confirming that Smith was being charged with two counts of first-degree murder following a bill of indictment by a Will County Grand Jury.