Cooper trial begins May 13 in Rock Falls fatal stabbing case

MORRISON – The trial of a Rock Falls man accused of stabbing another man to death on Valentine’s Day will begin May 13 in Whiteside County Circuit Court.

Kyle Cooper, 36, is accused of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery in connection with the Feb. 14 stabbing death of Daniel Gordon, 27, outside a Rock Falls residence.

Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge James Heuerman set a pretrial motion hearing for May 9 during a pretrial conference Wednesday, April 23.

Gordon was found unresponsive with multiple abdominal stab wounds about 2 a.m. Feb. 14 in the 600 block of West 20th Street in Rock Falls after Cooper and Gordon fought in a driveway, police said. Gordon died later that day at CGH Medical Center in Sterling, officials said.

In laying out details of the state’s case in late February, Whiteside County Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Simon said Cooper was taken into custody on a charge of aggravated battery in the hours after Gordon was stabbed.

Simon said the events leading up to the stabbing included a verbal altercation just hours before at a bar between Cooper and Gordon, who was dating a woman who previously had dated Cooper.

Gordon and the woman left the bar and later went to a home in the 600 block of West 20th Street in Rock Falls. Simon said they were at the house when a vehicle Cooper was in pulled up to the house, and Cooper got out of the vehicle while holding something shiny in his hand.

The woman was fearful that Cooper was going to use a knife to vandalize her vehicle and approached Cooper, who began pushing the woman, Simon said. Simon said Gordon got involved to protect the woman, and Cooper jumped on top of Gordon and stabbed Gordon in the abdomen several times before others were able to pull Cooper off Gordon. Cooper then left the scene, Simon said.

Rock Falls police were called to the scene about 1:50 a.m. When officers arrived, they found Gordon in the driveway, unresponsive and suffering from severe injuries, Simon said.

Cooper, wearing blood-stained clothes, turned himself in at the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office later that morning and was charged with aggravated battery, police said. He was formally charged four days later with murder and an additional count of aggravated battery. He has been detained in the Whiteside County Jail since his Feb. 14 arrest.