A Forest Park woman has been charged with fatally stabbing 51-year-old Steven Pasko inside his Rockford Avenue apartment over the weekend, police have reported.
Diamond L. Williams, 27, who was charged with first-degree murder, was ordered held without bond at a hearing at the Maybrook courthouse on Sept. 1.
According to a press release issued by Forest Park police, Williams was taken into custody on Aug. 29, the same day police found Pasko dead inside his ground-floor apartment at 37 Rockford Ave.
Police had gone to the apartment after receiving a call from Romeoville police to perform a well-being check.
According to the bond proffer read at Williams’ Sept. 1 hearing, Williams had known Pasko since sometime in 2016. The two reportedly had an occasional sexual relationship, where Pasko would pay Williams for sex.
On Aug. 26, Pasko reportedly contacted Williams and asked her to meet him at a bar. At about 9 or 10 p.m. on Aug. 26, Williams was dropped off at Pasko’s residence and the two drank at a bar and then returned to Pasko’s home to drink more.
The next morning, on Aug. 27, the two got into an argument, during which Pasko allegedly pointed his fingers in Williams’ face and “called [her] names.” Williams allegedly went into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed Pasko at least three times before dropping the knife and leaving the building.
On Aug. 28, Williams allegedly returned to Pasko’s building and entered his apartment by tearing out the screen of an unlocked bedroom window. She allegedly took Pasko’s phone from his body and gathered up other items, including the knife, a wig she had worn to Pasko’s home, drinking glasses and a comforter, throwing those items in a dumpster, except for Pasko’s phone, which she threw in a trash can outside the Harlem Avenue Green Line terminal.
Early on Aug. 29, Williams reportedly told someone, according to the bond proffer, “that she did something bad and may be in trouble for it.” At that time, Williams called her aunt, who is a Romeoville resident, who called Romeoville police to report the alleged murder and inform them of Pasko’s name, cellphone number and that he lived in Forest Park.
Romeoville police contacted Forest Park police, requesting they do a well-being check at Pasko’s residence.
According to the prosecutor, Williams admitted killing Pasko during an interview after her arrest. They also were able to recover the knife, comforter, drinking glasses and wig from the dumpster behind Pasko’s building.
At the time of her arrest, Williams was on parole after serving three years in state prison for a 2017 felony hit-and-run drunk driving conviction. In January 2016, Williams was behind the wheel of a vehicle that crashed into a car carrying four people including three children at Harlem Avenue and Franklin Street in Forest Park.
She fled the scene but was arrested after being spotted by a witness at Desplaines Avenue and Dixon Street. While in custody she kicked, bit, slapped and threw a boot at police officers. She was also convicted of aggravated battery to a police officer for that offense.
Williams is due back in court on Sept. 8 for a preliminary hearing.
