The price to kill Chervon Alexander was $400 — $200 upfront, the rest when the job was done, a prosecutor said Friday.

Devin Bickham Sr. paid Cardell Taylor half the money before Taylor fatally shot Bickham's girlfriend Monday night in a River Forest parking lot, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Maureen O'Brien.

When police pulled over Taylor and Bickham's son in a car shortly after the shooting, they overheard Taylor talking about what he was still owned, she said.

O'Brien said officers heard Taylor say, "I want the rest of my money now."

Cook County Judge William Wise ordered Taylor, 35, of Chicago, Devin Bickham Sr., 39, and his son, Devin Jr. 20, both of Blue Island, held without bond in Alexander's killing. They all are charged with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors said the senior Bickham wanted Alexander dead because she was pressing him to marry her and he wanted her out of his life. Alexander, 29, was an aspiring police officer. Bickham was a former North Chicago police officer.

Investigators said that late Monday night Bickham, who was already married, drove Alexander to a parking lot darkened by a power outage. They had been there before, the prosecutor said.

When they arrived at the lot near Dominican University, Bickham sent a text message to his alleged accomplices, who were parked about a block away, O'Brien said.

Taylor approached Bickham's car and tried to open fire, but his gun jammed, she said.

Clearing the jam, he started shooting, "breaking glass" and hitting Alexander in the mouth, chest and shoulder, she said.

Bickham called police and pretended to be a witness, the prosecutor said. In a recording of his call to 911, Bickham can be heard wailing wildly as he tells the dispatcher that his girlfriend has been shot.

Meanwhile, his son and Taylor fled but were pulled over about three minutes later a little more than a mile away at Harlem Avenue near Madison Street, police said.

A .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol, which authorities believe was the murder weapon, was in plain view in the car, O'Brien said.

Bickham's son told police that someone had tossed the gun into the car, she said.

O'Brien said Bickham gave police an accurate description of the two suspects and the car they were driving. But later in the evening, she said, he denied that he recognized the two suspects, even though one was his son.

Alexander's MySpace page lists her relationship status as engaged. O'Brien said the victim believed she was going to be married in August.