Joliet man gets life in prison for fatal Evergreen Terrace stabbing

JOLIET – A Joliet man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after stabbing a woman to death two years ago in an Evergreen Terrace laundry room.

“I’ve no comfort level that I could ever let you out of prison again,” Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes told Drumaine S. McKinley.

A jury found McKinley guilty in March of first-degree murder for the Sept. 3, 2014, death of Joslyn Woods. Woods, 20, and McKinley had arranged a paid sexual encounter online and met about 6:20 a.m. at the public housing complex at 363 N. Broadway St. in Joliet after exchanging text messages. They went into the laundry room and had sex before there was a dispute over money, and Woods brought out a knife, which McKinley used to stab her repeatedly, according to trial testimony.

“I’d like to apologize to the family,” McKinley told about two dozen of Woods’ relatives gathered in the courtroom. “[But] I know thousands of apologies cannot erase the pain I see on your faces. ... I didn’t intentionally set out to do this.”

Woods, a cosmetologist, was described as a loyal and outspoken daughter and sister whose death has left a void for those who loved her.

“Joslyn was not the sort of person who would allow herself to be described as a victim,” said her mother, Catherine Hatcher. “She was always a resourceful, fearless and courageous young lady.”

“We fight every day not to allow hatred to consume us for what was done to my baby girl,” Hatcher told Alessio Policandriotes.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Fleszewski said McKinley has been arrested 23 times since 1992 and “contributed nothing to society.” Assistant Public Defender Timothy Specht said there was no evidence McKinley, who has an adult child and two grandchildren, planned the attack.

Part of the Evergreen Terrace laundry room is visible to a hallway surveillance camera, and jurors watched the slaying. A forensic pathologist who performed Woods' autopsy testified she had been stabbed too many times to count.

“Drumaine McKinley’s act of horrific violence was both senseless and pitiless. There can be no explanation for the atrocity he committed against this young woman,” State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in a statement. “This is a truly evil man who will spend the rest of his life rotting in misery inside a dank prison cell where he cannot harm anyone else on our streets.”