Mute Man with Lung Cancer Found Stabbed to Death in His Ill. Home, Woman Charged

A woman has been charged for the murder of a mute man who had been diagnosed with cancer. 

On Friday, April 18, the Chicago Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE that Catherine Perry, 34, was charged with one felony count of first-degree murder and attempted arson in connection to the Oct. 14 2024, fatal stabbing of a 61-year-old man.

She was arrested by members of the Area One Homicide Investigation Support Team on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in the 1800 block of E. 71st Street, police said.

Kim Landers identified her brother Tony Landers as the victim in an on-camera interview with WLS-TV at the scene of the crime the day her brother was killed.

Kim acted as her brother’s caretaker as Tony was mute and living with lung cancer, but as she went to check on him at his South Shore apartment, she made the heartbreaking discovery. 

“So, I open the back door and when I looked down, I see a footprint. Red,” Kim told the news station.

She continued, “I look again, and I see another red footprint. And then, I seen my brother laying there. I seen blood all over the door.”

“I started calling his name and calling his name. I said, ‘Somebody killed him! Somebody killed him!’ It was blood everywhere!” the victim’s sibling said in the emotional interview.

Although police did not provide additional details on Friday regarding the manner of Tony’s death, his family told the local news station that their loved one appeared to have been beaten to death in addition to the stabbing. 

Another one of his sisters, Melissa Winston, told WLS-TV, “To kill an innocent person, a disabled person. He couldn’t defend himself. He was weak. He was sickly.”

According to his family, Tony was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 and became mute when his larynx had to be removed.

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“I feel bad that my brother had to die like this. He didn’t deserve it,” Melissa added.

At the time, Tony’s family said they believed he knew the person responsible for his death. Police later said on Friday that her felony count of arson involved ​​a known person present. 

A motive for the attack has not been publicly released.

Perry was back in court on Friday for a detention hearing.