Emoni & Elijah. Image credit: Facebook
In the early hours of November 3, 2016, a shooting inside a family home on Chicago's South Side killed two siblings, 20-year-old Emoni House and her 16-year-old brother, Elijah House. Emoni was four months pregnant. Their mother and a family friend were also shot and survived.
Police charged Emoni's boyfriend, a 19-year-old man, with the killings. What follows draws on contemporaneous news coverage of the shooting, the arrest and the first court hearing. It separates what prosecutors alleged from what has been proven, and it states where the public record ends.
Case at a Glance
Emoni House. Image credit: HOMICIDE WATCH CHICAGO
A Family Home in South Chicago
Emoni and Elijah House lived in a home in the 8000 block of South Shore Drive, in Chicago's South Chicago community area. According to prosecutors' account of the bond hearing as reported by DNAinfo, Emoni lived there with her 5-month-old daughter, her mother and four younger siblings. A 29-year-old family friend was visiting that night. (Other outlets gave that woman's age as 30.)
Emoni was 20. Elijah was 16. They were sister and brother, and the home was a household where other children also lived. Those facts, along with the attack itself, are what the public record reliably establishes about them.
Coverage of the case describes how they died far more than how they lived, a limit discussed further below.
The Relationship Prosecutors Described
Nearly everything known about the lead-up to the shooting comes from the prosecution's presentation at a bond hearing, and the details below are allegations, not findings by a court.
Assistant State's Attorney Becky Walters told the court that Darryl Benton-Harris, then 19, began dating Emoni in the summer of 2015, according to DNAinfo.
Prosecutors said he became "a fixture" at the House family's home until May 2016, when Emoni gave birth to the couple's first child. The two saw each other only sporadically afterward, prosecutors said, and Emoni became pregnant with their second child. She was four months along on the night of the shooting.
Prosecutors also said the entire family disliked Benton-Harris for the way he treated Emoni. That characterization came from the state's account in court. It is not an established finding.
The November 3 Shooting
Benton Harris. Image source: Chicago Police
Prosecutors said Benton-Harris came to the family home sometime after midnight on November 3. According to their account, Elijah got into an argument with him that escalated into a physical fight. Benton-Harris left, prosecutors said, and returned a short while later with a gun.
According to prosecutors, he shot Elijah in front of the boy's 42-year-old mother. As she tried to run, he fired multiple shots and struck her in the back.
He then shot Emoni, prosecutors said, killing her and the unborn child. The mother, prosecutors said, crawled away and was shot again, then lay still for the rest of the attack.
She was shot five times in all and survived. Prosecutors said the 29-year-old family friend tried to hide in a bathroom and was shot in the neck, back and leg. She also survived.
Prosecutors said Elijah was shot in the back. Emoni was shot in the right flank, right breast and mouth. Police told CBS Chicago that the siblings died at the scene, and that the two older women were taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Family members started an online campaign that week to help cover burial expenses.
The reporting says Benton-Harris left behind Emoni's 5-month-old daughter and the other children in the house. No coverage describes any of the children being physically harmed.
A November 3, 2016 DNAinfo report said police sources viewed the shooting as possibly domestic-related. A November 12 Chicago Sun-Times report identified the siblings and described the charges against Benton-Harris.
At a Glance: Key Facts and Dates
| Item | What was reported |
|---|---|
| Date of shooting | November 3, 2016, shortly after midnight |
| Location | Family home, 8000 block of South Shore Drive, South Chicago |
| Killed | Emoni House, 20 (four months pregnant); Elijah House, 16 |
| Wounded, survived | The siblings' 42-year-old mother; a family friend (reported as 29 or 30) |
| Suspect | Darryl Benton-Harris (also rendered "Darryl Benton Harris" and "Darryl Harris"), 19 |
| Arrest | Wednesday, November 9, 2016, about 11 p.m., 6500 block of South Whipple Street |
| Bond hearing | Friday, November 11, 2016; Judge Peggy Chiampas denied bail |
| Next scheduled date | Monday, November 14, 2016, per CBS Chicago |
| Verified outcome | No final disposition independently verified from Cook County court records |
The Arrest
Benton-Harris was not taken into custody at the scene. He was arrested the following Wednesday, six days after the shooting.
The account below comes from the arrest report as described in court and in news coverage.
According to the arrest report as relayed by DNAinfo, police pulled over a car in which Benton-Harris was a passenger because he and the driver were not wearing seatbelts.
He gave officers a fake name, prosecutors said, and the men were allowed to leave. Near 63rd and California, police said, the driver cut off traffic and drove erratically. Officers followed the car until it stopped a few blocks away and the men got out.
Officers said Benton-Harris looked toward them with his hands in his pockets. When they asked him to show his hands, he replied with an expletive and ran, according to the report. Believing he was armed, officers chased him and used a Taser. He was arrested about 11 p.m. in the 6500 block of South Whipple Street.
He was carrying six bags of marijuana and no weapon. Police then learned his true identity and that he was wanted on an arrest warrant for the killings of Emoni and Elijah House.
The Charges: Allegations, Not Verdicts
Charges describe what prosecutors allege. They are not findings of guilt, and Benton-Harris is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise. The table summarizes contemporaneous CBS Chicago reporting; no certified charging document was available for this review.
| Charge | Reporting |
|---|---|
| First-degree murder | Two counts, per CBS Chicago |
| Attempted first-degree murder | Two counts, per CBS Chicago |
| Intentional homicide of an unborn child | One count, per CBS Chicago; the original charging document was not independently reviewed |
| Aggravated battery with a firearm | Two counts, per CBS Chicago and ABC7 Chicago |
| Reckless conduct, resisting a police officer, obstructing identification, cannabis possession | Misdemeanors, per CBS Chicago; ABC7 Chicago specified cannabis of 10 to 20 grams |
DNAinfo reported that if convicted, Benton-Harris could face a life sentence.
Prosecutors also told the court about his background. As a juvenile, he was previously found guilty of retail theft, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
As an adult, he had a pending trespassing case. Court testimony described him as homeless. CBS Chicago reported an address for him in the 7200 block of South Coles.
The Bond Hearing and What Followed
At a bond hearing on Friday, November 11, Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas denied Benton-Harris bail, according to DNAinfo. CBS Chicago reported that he was ordered jailed without bond, citing Cook County Circuit Court records, and that he was due back in court the following Monday.
A detention order at this stage reflects a judge's decision about custody while the case is pending. It does not decide guilt. The bond hearing was also where most of the detailed narrative above entered the public record, as the prosecution's summary of what it expected to show. Defense arguments from that hearing do not appear in the coverage reviewed.
What Is Not in the Record
Darryl Benton-Harris was charged in November 2016 with the murders of Emoni and Elijah House. Contemporary reporting confirms his arrest and initial court proceedings.
However, his final case disposition and any sentence have not been independently verified through official Cook County court records. Anyone seeking a certified disposition should consult the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Remembering Emoni and Elijah
Emoni and Elijah are most often described in coverage through the crime: a sister and brother killed in their own home. The record supports a few plain facts. Emoni was 20, a mother of a 5-month-old daughter, and pregnant with a second child. Elijah was 16, a brother to other children in the household. Their mother was shot five times and survived, and a family friend who was visiting that night was also wounded.
The coverage contains no verified account of the siblings' personalities, schooling, interests or ambitions. Contemporaneous reporting includes a family photograph of Emoni and Elijah but little substantive biographical detail. This article does not invent any. Names, ages, family ties and the circumstances of their deaths are what the record verifies. Fuller remembrance belongs to the people who knew them.
Strengths and Limits of the Public Record
The coverage has real value, and real gaps. Weighing both helps readers decide how much to rely on any single detail.
What the record does well
- Several news reports agree on the core facts: the victims' names and ages, the date and location, the suspect's identity, the bond denial and the survival of two women.
- The most detailed narrative comes from prosecutors speaking in open court, and the reports attribute it as such.
- Outlets give different ages for the family friend (29 or 30) and different spellings of the suspect's name, which signals where details should be treated carefully.
Where it falls short
- The detailed account is the prosecution's version, presented at a bond hearing, without any reported response from the defense.
- The initial reports do not reproduce a certified charging document, so the listed counts are based on news reporting.
- The siblings' lives are barely described.
- The cited reporting does not independently verify the final court disposition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who were Elijah and Emoni House?
They were siblings who lived in a home in the 8000 block of South Shore Drive in South Chicago. Emoni was 20 and Elijah was 16. Emoni had a 5-month-old daughter and was four months pregnant when she was killed.
When did the shooting happen?
Shortly after midnight on November 3, 2016.
Who was charged?
Darryl Benton-Harris, 19, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, among other counts, according to CBS Chicago. Prosecutors said he was Emoni's boyfriend and the father of her first child.
Was anyone else hurt?
Yes. The siblings' 42-year-old mother and a family friend were shot and survived. Both were initially reported in critical condition.
Was Benton-Harris convicted?
The cited November 2016 reporting confirms charges and a no-bond detention order. A conviction, acquittal, final disposition or sentence has not been independently verified through Cook County court records.
Why do some reports use different names and ages?
Outlets rendered the suspect's name as Darryl Benton-Harris, Darryl Benton Harris and Darryl Harris. They gave the family friend's age as 29 or 30. This article uses the form each source used and flags the differences.
Were the other children in the home injured?
The coverage reviewed reports that Benton-Harris left Emoni's infant daughter and the other children in the house. It describes no injuries to them.
Two siblings were killed in their family's home, a pregnancy ended, and two women survived multiple gunshot wounds. Those are the facts around which the 2016 coverage agrees.
The account of how it happened comes from prosecutors, the arrest narrative comes from a police report as described in court, and the charges are accusations. The last court development established by the November 2016 reports cited here is a judge's order that Benton-Harris be held without bail. The evidence reviewed for this article does not independently verify how the case ended, and that gap should not be filled with assumption.
References
- Man Kills Pregnant Girlfriend, Her Brother in South Chicago Shooting - South Chicago - Chicago — DNAinfo
- Man Charged With Murders Of Pregnant Girlfriend, Her Teen Brother - CBS Chicago — cbsnews.com
- Man charged with murders of pregnant girlfriend, her teen brother — Chicago Sun-Times (November 12, 2016)
- Emoni, Elijah House Killed, 2 Others Wounded in South Chicago Shooting — DNAinfo (November 3, 2016)
- Man charged with killing pregnant girlfriend, her brother in South Chicago — ABC7 Chicago
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