Getaway driver in 2017 Elgin slaying gets 18 months prison
A woman accused of serving as the getaway driver for three men charged in an August 2017 stabbing death in Elgin has been sentenced for a reduced charge to 18 months in prison.
Ivette Rodriguez, 21, of the 1400 block of Keele Drive, Carpentersville, pleaded guilty to one count of felony obstruction of justice as well as first-degree murder in late March in the slaying of Bayron Cruz-Garcia, 26, according to Kane County court records.
The South Elgin man was found shirtless and stabbed numerous times in the early morning hours of Aug. 12, 2017, on the 1100 block of Jansen Farm Court on the city's northwest side.
According to an affidavit used to secure a search warrant in the case, Cruz-Garcia, who was married, met his 41-year-old mistress in a parking lot, and three men opened a car door and attacked him while the two were getting "intimate."
Cruz-Garcia was taken from the car, kicked and beaten and stabbed 14 times, according to the affidavit.
Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler accepted the plea, according to court records. No future court date has been set for the guilty plea that Rodriguez entered on the murder charge, which carries a prison term of 20 to 60 years.
Prosecutors would not comment on whether the plea agreement required Rodriguez to testify against other defendants in the case.
Carlos F. Lopez, 29, of Carpentersville is due in court Friday. Gabriel M. Lopez, 26, and Michael A. Giacomino, 31, both of Elgin, are due in court on April 20 and May 11, respectively, and are all being held at the Kane County jail.
A message left with Rodriguez's defense attorney, Scott Sheen, was not returned.
Rodriguez had been held at the Kane County jail since her arrest in August 2017.
Under state law, she can have her sentence cut in half, meaning she could be eligible for release from prison in mid-May 2018.