A former Wendy’s employee in Danville, Illinois, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after admitting she tried to kill a co-worker during an attack at the restaurant last year.
Tichina Marshall, 29, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder on September 24, 2026. Judge Karen E. Wall sentenced her to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with Marshall required to serve 85% of the sentence. She will then serve three years of mandatory supervised release.
The case dates back to May 26, 2025, when Danville police responded to the Wendy’s on North Vermilion Street following a stabbing. Investigators said the victim had been talking with a manager inside a small office when Marshall entered carrying a knife.
According to prosecutors, Marshall told the co-worker, “I am going to kill you,” before attacking. Investigators said she struck the victim at least twice in the face and once on the top of the head.
Officers found the victim on the floor with severe bleeding and close to losing consciousness. The injuries included a 3-centimeter-deep stab wound to the head and a fractured skull. Surveillance video captured the attack, prosecutors said.
The confrontation was not the first reported threat involving the two workers. Prosecutors said Marshall had threatened to kill the same co-worker about a month before the stabbing while they were both working at Wendy’s. No motive for the attack was publicly identified in the latest case information.
Marshall was initially facing both attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The aggravated battery charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, while the attempted murder charge resulted in the 12-year sentence.
Court records reported in connection with the case show that Marshall had remained in the Vermilion County Jail since her arrest. The 477 days she had spent in custody were to be credited toward her prison sentence.
Vermilion County State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy said the victim’s cooperation throughout the case helped prosecutors reach the conviction. She also said the sentence could not erase the lasting effects of the attack but reflected the seriousness of the violence and the injuries suffered by the victim.
The Wendy’s where the stabbing occurred has since closed. The former restaurant property at 2501 North Vermilion Street is now identified as a former Wendy’s location, adding another change to the site since the 2025 attack.
Marshall will remain under the terms of her Illinois prison sentence before beginning the required period of supervised release.
