Girl, 16, charged as adult in fatal Uber driver stabbing

LINCOLNWOOD, Ill. — A 16-year-old girl was charged Wednesday as an adult with first-degree murder and accused of stabbing her Uber driver to death in suburban Chicago.

Lincolnwood police said they responded to a report of a man screaming for help at about 3:20 a.m. Tuesday when they found Grant Nelson, 34, of Wilmette with multiple stab wounds. Nelson told them he was a driver for the ride-sharing service Uber and that his passenger stabbed him, police said. He was dropping off the girl when the attack occurred, police said.

Officers located the girl, who prosecutors identified as Eliza Wasni, behind a building near the crime scene in possession of two weapons they believe she used in the stabbing, Lincolnwood police said. They said she declined to make a statement.

Nelson died at a nearby hospital a few hours later. Chicago-area TV stations reported that Nelson’s blood-splattered silver sedan remained in the intersection as police investigated his killing.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office says Wasni is scheduled to appear in bond court Wednesday afternoon in Skokie.

Uber officials said the company was working with police to provide information relevant to the investigation.

“We are heartbroken by the loss of one of our partners,” Uber said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”

Nelson’s sister, Alex Nelson, told WMAQ-TV in Chicago that her brother was a good person.

“He was not a vindictive person,” Alex Nelson said. “He was not a cruel person. He didn’t deserve this fate.”

It is the first homicide in Lincolnwood since 2006, police said.