Man charged in slaying of mother of 3 at 2009 Halloween night party

Nearly two years after her daughter was shot and killed at a Halloween party, Janice Clark McGilberry watched in a Cook County courtroom Saturday as the only person charged in the attack made his first appearance before a judge.
And the man before her wasn’t who Cook County prosecutors believe to be the still-at-large murderer.
Clark McGilberry listened as Darryl Upchurch Jr., 25, was charged for allegedly shooting into the party in Chicago’s North Austin neighborhood, though prosecutors believe it was someone else that fired the bullet that killed her daughter Jennifer Clark, 24.
The grieving mother didn’t cry until she left the courthouse. By then, the tears were nearly impossible to stop.
“It can’t bring my daughter back,” she said while trying to stifle sobs during a telephone interview later on Saturday. “They took my daughter away, my baby away.”
Police are still seeking the person who killed Clark, Assistant State’s Attorney Morgan Creppel said.
The Nov. 1, 2009 incident occurred after a group of Upchurch’s friends were kicked out of the party in the 5300 West Division Street at about 1 a.m., Creppel said.
One member of the ejected group began kicking on the building’s door, Creppel said. The building’s owner came outside and fired several shots with his gun and the group scattered, he said.
A short time later, Upchurch allegedly showed up to the party with at least one other shooter.
A police officer who had been responding to calls about the first shooting said he saw Upchurch firing a gun and that Upchurch ran away, Creppel said. A 16-year-old girl was also injured in the foot during the shooting.
 Upchurch, of the 1000 block of North Long Avenue in Chicago, was arrested about three weeks after the shooting but was released without being charged due to lack of evidence, Creppel said.
He was arrested again Wednesday after further investigation and allegedly confessed then to firing a .357 caliber revolver that had been recovered at the murder scene, the prosecutor said.
Upchurch was charged with felony murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm. A judge ordered him held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Creppel said the person who fired the bullet that killed Clark is not in custody.