Alleged victim says she doesn't recall exactly what she told cops

A former Antioch Township woman said Monday that she was struck several times and tied up by Christopher Schneider during an argument that began June 30, 2007, and lasted into the next day.

But in several key areas, including the basis of rape charges against Schneider, the woman either said she could not recall what she originally told police or denied flatly making statements police attribute to her.

Schneider, 37, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated battery.

In the second day of his trial before Circuit Judge George Bridges, prosecutors called the 26-year-old victim, Schneider's girlfriend of 10 years.

The woman, who said she and Schneider have four children between the ages of 4 and 8, had been drinking and abusing prescription drugs on the day of the incident.

Police said the woman told them he had beaten her with his fists and a baseball bat, tied her up with a belt and taped her hands behind her back, raped her and repeatedly told her he was going to kill her.

Police said she begged Schneider to take her to the hospital in the morning, and once he did, she told hospital employees and detectives the story they used to file the charges against Schneider.

From the witness stand on Monday, the woman said there was a physical altercation between the two but that it was much less severe than police claim she originally described.

The woman, who fled to Indiana last week to avoid testifying against Schneider and is now being held on $1 million bond until the conclusion of the case, said she did not remember much of what happened during her first four days in the hospital.

She said Monday Schneider had only hit her once with the baseball bat, breaking her left arm, and could not recall telling police she was struck several times with the bat.

She said Monday she remembered telling police Schneider held a reciprocating saw to her neck, but not saying that he had pressed the blade hard against her neck.

She denied saying that she had to beg Schneider to take her to the hospital, and insisted that the sex the two had at the conclusion of the beating was consensual.

Assistant State's Attorney Victor O'Block asked her about a statement she made to a Lake County sheriff's detective on July 1 of last year in which she had told police she had engaged in sex with Schneider because she was afraid of what would happen if she did not.

The woman replied she did not say that to police.

O'Block then showed her a handwritten statement she gave police July 25 after she was found in Indiana and returned to Lake County in which she repeated the statement originally attributed to her, and she again denied it was true.

Also on Monday, Bridges said he will allow prosecutors to use selective parts of hundreds of phone conversations between Schneider and the woman that were recorded by the Lake County jail.

Bridges ruled that only parts of those conversations in which Schneider can be heard admitting to some element of a crime he is charged with may be put before the jury.

Prosecutors said Friday such statements are made on the tapes, and there are also discussions between Schneider and the woman about her plans to leave the state to avoid testifying.

He said would only allow references to her flight to be made in front of the jury if prosecutors could link them to a statement Schneider makes that ties him to one of the crimes he is charged with.