Des Plaines man pleads guilty to 2017 stabbing murder in Bensenville

A 29-year-old Des Plaines man accused of lurking in the Bensenville darkness before stabbing a former lover to death is going to prison.

A DuPage County judge will decide later this summer for how long.

Victor Tornez-Sanchez, of the 0-100 block of Touhy Avenue, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of first-degree murder in exchange for prosecutors agreeing to cap their sentencing recommendation at 60 years.

Assistant State's Attorney Nicole Wilkes-English said Tornez-Sanchez wore all black and sat in his dark car on the night of June 18, 2017, waiting outside Olivia Renteria-Bravo's home on the 700 block of Parkside Lane for her to return from a date with her new boyfriend.

When Renteria-Bravo got out of her boyfriend's vehicle, Wilkes-English said, Tornez-Sanchez ran toward her, stabbed her three times and fled.

The man who dropped her off said he heard her screams as he pulled away and turned around to see Tornez-Sanchez running through a wooded area before getting back in his car and fleeing.

Bensenville police responded around 9:30 p.m. and found Renteria-Bravo unresponsive and lying in a large pool of blood outside her apartment. Several witnesses were trying to provide aid.

She was stabbed once in her right chest, once in her right torso and once in her right biceps.

Renteria-Bravo was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where she died of her injuries.

Wilkes-English said that after the killing, Tornez-Sanchez fled to Chicago, where he bought a new cellphone and created a new Facebook account, which he used to contact his sister. Officials say he told her that he needed to "arrange to get money because he needed to go to Mexico" and made plans to take a train to Elgin to meet his sister the next day. When he arrived, he was arrested.

Tornez-Sanchez told police he purposefully went to her home with a knife and planned to "do something to her."

He also said he intended to hurt the new boyfriend but "ultimately decided not to do that."

Court records show Renteria-Bravo had an order of protection against Tornez-Sanchez after a June 2015 case in which Tornez-Sanchez allegedly punched Renteria-Bravo and hit her sister with part of a crib.

Tornez-Sanchez's next court appearance is scheduled for July 1, at which point a sentencing date will be set.