Murder Charges Filed In Joliet April 28 Killing

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Police Department announced Tuesday that a 24-year-old Joliet area resident faces first-degree murder charges in connection with the April 28 slaying of 20-year-old Todd Taylor in the 300 block of Grant Avenue.

Police arrested murder defendant Dartavius Payton on three counts of first-degree homicide, and unlawful use of a weapon. The arrest was made by the Grundy County Sheriff's Office on Sunday afternoon at a house in Diamond, Ill. A Will County judge set bail at $2.5 million for Payton, who had lived on Reverend Walton Drive in Lockport, jail logs reflect.

"The Joliet Police Department would like to thank all the law enforcement agencies that assisted us in this investigation," the department announced Tuesday. "We would like to especially thank the Grundy County Sheriff's Office for all their assistance and with the apprehension of Dartavius J. Payton."

Joliet Patch previously reported that at 8:59 p.m. on April 28, city of Joliet police officers heard gunshots in the area of 5th Avenue and Sherman Street and saw a black Cadillac SUV fleeing the area. The SUV refused to pull over near 4th Avenue and Richards Street and headed westbound on Interstate 80, police said. During the initial pursuit of the Cadillac SUV, Joliet police say they learned of the slaying of the Rockdale man in a driveway in the 300 block of Grant Avenue.

Officers pursued the Cadillac SUV on westbound Interstate 80, to southbound Interstate 55, to the area of West Coal City Road in Diamond where police say the SUV stopped.

At that point, several people in the vehicle tried running away, police said. Two were quickly captured and a perimeter was established with the help of other area police agencies. Two more shooting suspects were captured around 1:35 a.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of East Stellon Street in Diamond, police said.

Murder charges, however, were not immediately filed at the time of the Rockdale man's death, and the suspects were freed from custody at the time.

The April 28 slaying of Taylor was one of two separate killings on Joliet's east side at the time. The other gunshot death involved Floyd Faint Sr. His slaying remains unsolved.