Sylvia Brice: Chicago teacher, 52, stabbed to death on New Year's Eve

Sylvia Brice, 52, died from several stab wounds after being attacked by her ex-boyfriend in her Chicago home on December 31, 2016.  Suspect Douglas Askew was jailed for 40 years in a similar crime in 1990.

It was New Year's Eve. Sylvia Brice had had enough. The 52-year-old Chicago teacher had parted ways with Douglas Askew and didn't want him back in life, filing an order of protection from him on November 30. She wanted to start the new year fresh, and the only way to do that was to move out.

On December 31, 2016, Brice and her 30-year-old niece arrived at her home in the 9300 block of South Wentworth Avenue in Princeton Park to get some of her stuff. She had been staying with a friend.

They found Askew inside waiting for them.

When the niece threatened to call police, Askew began to chuckle then he allegedly pulled out a large kitchen knife and attacked her, stabbing her several times, according to Fox 32 Chicago.

Brice came to the aid of her niece, receiving several stabs wounds as well. When the attack was over, Brice lay dead on the floor, her niece bleeding badly from six stab wounds.

Askew was apprehended by police a short time later and charged with murder and aggravated battery.

As news spread of the slaying, it was revealed that Askew was convicted and imprisoned for an eerily similar murder almost 30 years ago.

In 1990, Askew was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend a year earlier. She was 15 years old. He shot her twice in the head, then shot her stepdad in the back and sister in the face, according to the Chicago Sun-Times Homicide Watch.

While it is unclear when he was released from prison, Askew also was arrested for domestic charges in 2013 and 2014, according to local news reports. In both cases, the women failed to show up in court, leading to the cases being thrown out.

In rejecting his bid for bond, the judge said that he presented "an extreme danger to the community," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

In the days after New Year's people shared their thoughts and tributes of Brice, who was loved by all.

"Sylvia was someone that draws people in with her phenomenal personality," one online tribute reads. "Now I’m not quick to liking people, but Sylvia was the exceptions to my rules. She is  the true definition of “Good People.”