Evergreen Ripper Gets Life in Prison

JOLIET, IL — A jury took less than 90 minutes to find Evergreen Ripper Drumaine McKinley guilty of butchering a prostitute in a laundry room.

The jury not only reached a guilty verdict Friday, but also returned a finding that the killing was brutal and heinous, meaning the 37-year-old Joliet man will spend the rest of his life in prison.

McKinley killed 20-year-old Joslyn Woods in September 2014. He spent the night before the killing drinking with his wife and another couple. McKinley then strayed off to a casino and decided to look for a prostitute on the website BackPage.

He found Woods, according to prosecutors, and the two rendezvoused in the laundry room of a building in the Evergreen Terrace apartment complex. Neither McKinley nor Woods lived at Evergreen.

Surveillance video showed McKinley and Woods walking into the laundry room, according to a prosecutor, and also captured McKinley pulling his pants down and Woods kneeling in front of him. The video went on to show McKinley battering Woods while her hands were raised to protect herself, “pounding and pushing (her) into the wall,” and then stabbing her repeatedly with a knife.

Evergreen resident Stephanie Gaines discovered Woods’ body about 15 minutes later. Her friend Toinette Platt called the cops.

Officers arrived to find a gory scene in the laundry room, with Woods facedown in a pool of blood and bloody footprints leading away from it, Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Wilkes said during McKinley’s bond hearing. A knife was on the floor near Woods’ corpse.

The cops tracked McKinley down to a wooded area behind his East Washington Street house. An ex-convict still on parole for gun and drug convictions at the time of his arrest, McKinley explained to detectives that he and Woods were having sex when she suddenly stopped and told him she wanted more money, Wilkes said. McKinley also claimed Woods was the one who tried to stab him but he blocked the blade, he said.

McKinley’s trial started last week.