Peoria Standard

A Peoria County jury has found Marvin A. Alexander, 24, guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 19-year-old De’Monyae Phelps in 2021. The verdict was delivered following a three-day trial.

The incident occurred on July 20, 2021, around 11:45 p.m., when officers responded to reports of gunfire in the 300 block of South Shelly Street in South Peoria. Upon arrival, police discovered a car running at the side of the road and found Phelps slumped over the center console with multiple gunshot wounds. Despite immediate life-saving efforts by officers, Phelps was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered six rifle shell casings from the location.

During the trial, three witnesses testified about events leading up to the shooting. According to their accounts, a group had gathered on Shelly Street after playing basketball at a nearby park. Witnesses stated that Alexander confronted Phelps about $70 he believed had been taken from him before shooting him.

Two witnesses specifically noted Alexander’s anger regarding the missing money as central to the confrontation.

Sentencing for Alexander is scheduled for December 12, 2025.

In related education statistics for Peoria County during the 2022-23 school year, there were 27,081 students enrolled with an average student-to-teacher ratio of 15-to-1 across county schools (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx). Teacher absenteeism was recorded at 32.3%, which is below Illinois' state average of 35.6% (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx). Dunlap High School reported having the highest enrollment of white students with a total of 873; Richwoods High School had the highest number of multiracial students at 182; Lincoln School led in Hispanic student enrollment with 218; and Peoria High School recorded the highest Black student enrollment with a total of 798 (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx).