Chicago mother's complaints of domestic abuse 'fell through the cracks' before she was killed

Before Shaniqua Kinnard was found beaten and strangled inside her Far South Side apartment last week, she made it clear to officials that she was living in fear of the man who’s now charged with her killing.

Kinnard, 30, had repeatedly called the cops on Jarve Toms-Dixon and was granted a protective order last year after accusing him of tormenting and attacking her while she was pregnant with their child.

“I’m afraid [for] my safety and all of my children's safety,” the mother of six wrote in her petition for the protective order, which was granted on June 24, 2024.

On Thursday, Judge Deidre M. Dyer pointed to Toms-Dixon's “apparent” violations of the order as she ordered him held in custody to await trial for Kinnard's murder.

But Toms-Dixon, also 30, was never served with the protective order, and he wasn't previously charged with abusing Kinnard — despite her cries for help.

A spokesperson for the Cook County sheriff's office said deputies tried seven times to serve Toms-Dixon with the order, starting on the day it was granted. The spokesperson said deputies were told that Toms-Dixon didn't live at his listed address, and the sheriff's office couldn't find any others.

The spokesperson said the protective order was vacated after Kinnard and Toms-Dixon failed to appear in court on July 31, 2024.

Carrie Boyd, president and CEO of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said Kinnard's killing serves as "a sobering reminder of the dangers of intimate partner violence and domestic abuse that are a plague in our communities."

"In Shaniqua’s unique situation, there were patterns of abuse that fell through the cracks of our systems," Boyd added, "and we must undertake a deeper investigation of how those patterns can be more effectively and timely addressed so women do not continue to die at the hands of current or former loved ones."

History of abuse

Kinnard said she petitioned the court for the protective order out of “fear of future abuse."

In her petition on June 24, 2024, she said she'd called the police a day earlier to report that Toms-Dixon came to her home in the 13000 block of South Martin Luther King Drive, kicked in the door and chased her around in a drunken rage.

She said he came back the next day and “damaged everything” in her apartment, including the TV, air conditioner and windows. “I’m also pregnant,” she wrote in the petition that day.

Prosecutors on Thursday said police removed Toms-Dixon from the home that same day, but his abusive behavior continued after Kinnard’s protective order was granted.

He returned to her apartment and damaged more property on the day she filed the petition, prosecutors said.

He also left behind a gun, which prosecutors said Kinnard “turned over to the police.” That evening, Kinnard called police again to report that Toms-Dixon had been threatening her for giving up his gun.

“He messaged her that if he didn’t get his gun back, he would turn the city red,” prosecutors said.

At the time, Toms-Dixon was on probation in a felony burglary case and wasn’t legally allowed to possess a firearm. A Chicago police spokesperson declined to comment.

Prosecutors said police responded to Kinnard’s home again in October 2024 and were told that Toms-Dixon “choked her with two hands, which caused bruising to her neck before fleeing.” That December, he allegedly kicked in the door of her apartment again and began shoving her.

“Where’s my baby?” he allegedly asked before fleeing when he learned Kinnard’s son had called police.

Deadly attack

Around 8 a.m. July 11, Kinnard's 7-year-old son found her unresponsive and bleeding from her mouth on the bathroom floor, prosecutors said. The Cook County medical examiner's office found signs of strangulation and blunt force trauma, and her death was ruled a homicide.

Prosecutors said video surveillance footage had captured her and Toms-Dixon entering her apartment around 3:45 a.m. after they finishing partying at her neighbor's unit. Toms-Dixon left around 5:10 a.m. and was the only person seen exiting the apartment around that time, they said.

He surrendered to police Sunday and faces a charge of first-degree murder.

Kinnard's family remembered her as a loving mother and "a free spirit" who was taken too soon.

“She wanted so much more; she never had the opportunity to live a good life,” her sister, Tenecia Kinnard, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “She never made it out, she never saw better; she never experienced true love and true happiness.”