Feb. 06--A love triangle among two women and another person fueled an argument Saturday that led to one of the women fatally stabbing the other, prosecutors said.
Eliza Roper, 23, was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Cierra Moore, 27, authorities said.
Roper and Moore had been dating each other for about four years, but they both were also dating the same person on the side, according to court documents. Prosecutors said the side relationship caused hostility between the women.
About 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Moore was following Roper in her vehicle as Roper drove with a male passenger. When Roper pulled into a gas station, Moore parked behind her vehicle, and soon both women got out of their cars, prosecutors said.
An argument ensued, and Moore got back into her car. Moore then bumped the rear of Roper's vehicle and attempted to pull around Roper's car. The man Roper was with then picked up a garbage can and started to walk toward Moore's car. When Moore tried to drive toward Roper, the man threw the garbage can at Moore's vehicle, according to documents.
Moore then tried to leave the gas station, but a gas pump was blocking her way. Roper's passenger then approached Moore and began hitting her while she was seated in her vehicle, court documents said. Roper joined in the assault, which was captured on video surveillance and showed Roper putting a knife away as she walked back to her car.
Moore was able to leave the scene but was later found unresponsive a short distance away, in the 10000 block of South Michigan Avenue, with a stab wound to the left thigh.
Moore, of the 3400 block of Hazel Crest Lane in East Hazel Crest, was pronounced dead two days later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Roper was later identified by a witness as Moore's attacker. Roper also admitted to her cousin that she stabbed Moore, prosecutors said.
Roper, of the 1300 block of South Freeland Avenue in Calumet City, appeared at a bond hearing Friday afternoon and was ordered held in lieu of $400,000 bail.
