Lincolnwood Man Charged With Threats To Kill Woman, Having Illegal Gun

LINCOLNWOOD, IL — A Lincolnwood man accused of threatening to kill the mother of his children with an illegal gun was ordered to post $25,000 cash bail and stay away from her and her family if he wants to fight the charges from outside Cook County Jail.

Joni Zaya, 44, claimed to have five guns and told the woman that if police took one of them from him, he would kill her and his family after posting bond, prosecutors said, citing a recording of a Facetime video call they said he placed to the woman Saturday before showing up at her house.

"Look at my eyes. I know you're f------ around. I'm going to get you today. I'm coming for you b----, and I'm going to kill you," Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Colin DeBrabander said Monday, quoting from the recording at Zaya's initial court appearance in Skokie.

DeBrabander said the woman also provided a screenshot from the video call that shows Zaya brandishing a handgun.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Zaya arrived at the woman's house and began banging on the door, threatening to kill the woman if she called the police, the prosecutor said. She called them anyway.

"When [Zaya] discovered that police had been called, he told the [woman] to open the door and take the gun he was holding before the police arrived," DeBrabander said. She did not.

Cook County sheriff's police saw Zaya leaving the woman's building and found a loaded handgun in its stairwell, the prosecutor said.

Zaya has been charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and misdemeanor aggravated assault.

According to prosecutors and court staff, Zaya has two felony convictions and five past domestic violence arrests, including at least three against the woman he is presently charged with threatening, most recently on April 26, 2020, in unincorporated Maine Township.

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Zaya was also the subject of an order of protection issued last year on behalf of a family member of the woman he is accused of threatening in this case. And an assessment conducted by Cook County court staff flagged him for new violent offenses and recommended pretrial supervision.

Cook County Circuit Judge Lorraine Murphy ordered Zaya to turn over any weapons to police and to be subject to electronic monitoring. Prosecutors had sought to extend a no-contact order to Zaya's children, but after hearing testimony from the woman Zaya is accused of threatening, Murphy decided to allow him to have supervised contact with the kids.

Before setting the terms of his bail, the judge said she had considered Zaya's past felony convictions and the fact his family had offered to post $2,500 in cash.

"I listened to the fact that not only is this recorded with full-on threats of death," Murphy said, "But [Zaya] was physically present in front of the victim's home with the kids present, also threatening, and with the actually loaded firearm which was recovered in this case."