Naperville man charged in stabbing death of mom near Downers Grove
Kevin James told investigators he saw green demons and dinosaurs surrounding his mother and he wanted her to go to heaven before he stabbed her multiple times Tuesday at her home near Downers Grove, prosecutors said in an emergency bond hearing Thursday.
Bail was set at $3 million for the 23-year-old Naperville man during the hearing Thursday afternoon, where James was charged with one count of first-degree murder in his mother's death.
James, who has been in custody since Tuesday afternoon, was wheeled into court, escorted by a dozen deputies and strapped into the wheelchair. He grunted incoherently throughout the hearing.
Assistant State's Attorney Megan McGuire-Bachman said sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call on the 2100 block of 63rd Street at 1:38 p.m. Monday. The caller told dispatchers her brother had just murdered her mother, Patricia Jones, 52, she said.
Before stabbing his mother multiple times with a kitchen knife, the woman told officials Kevin James choked his mother, McGuire-Bachman said.
The woman, who escaped the home covered in her mother's blood, said James also punched her, the prosecutor said.
Prosecutors said James left the house and ran into traffic on 63rd Street before eventually returning to the home. Police found him in the doorway, covered in blood, with his mother on the front room floor.
James told police he planned to kill himself but failed in his attempts to be struck by a car or shot by responding officers.
"Last Tuesday, Patricia James was stabbed to death, allegedly by her own son, Kevin," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. "To her surviving family and friends, I offer my sincere condolences on their loss."
Officials said the unusual 12:20 p.m. bond hearing was necessary because sheriff's officials wanted to book the "aggressive" James into a jail cell. A source familiar with the investigation said James was "out of control" and "like a bull in a China shop" while in the investigation room over the past few days.
"His behavior was aggressive and unpredictable," sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Robert Harris said. "For his safety and that of sheriff's investigators while dealing with him in our detective division, it was important to get him in a secure setting."
Prosecutors also sought to have their doctors perform a psychiatric exam of James, but his attorney, Supervising Assistant Public Defender Wayne Brucar, objected.
Judge Liam Brennan, who set the bail, will rule on the psychiatric exam motion at 9 a.m. Jan. 26. James also will be arraigned at that time.