Bond at $1.5 million in fatal McHenry fork stabbing

A McHenry man remained behind bars at the McHenry County jail late Monday on charges he stabbed a teenage friend to death with a fork during a weekend altercation.

Victor Bandala-Martinez, 20, of the 1600 block of Park Street, faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery stemming from the incident early Sunday morning that left 17-year-old Yair J. Cabrera dead from at least two stab wounds.

Bandala-Martinez made his first court appearance on the charges Monday morning, when a judge set his bond at $1.5 million and assigned the McHenry County Public Defender to represent him.

According to the criminal complaint against Bandala-Martinez, he "without legal justification stabbed Yair J. Cabrera with a fork, knowing said act would cause the death of Yair J. Cabrera."

Cabrera, also of McHenry, was a sophomore at McHenry High School's West Campus, Superintendent Theresa Lane said Monday.

"We have counselors at both (campuses) and they are meeting with students who are grieving and in need of support," Lane said.

McHenry Deputy Police Chief Roger Pechous said investigators are still trying to determine what sparked the fatal confrontation between the two friends.

"We're reaching out to a lot of different associates of (Cabrera) at this time, trying to answer that," he said. "It's an unsolved question."

There do not appear to be any gang links to the slaying, Pechous said, and no weapon has been recovered.

Police said officers were dispatched at 2:34 a.m. Sunday to a house party in the 1300 block of Front Street, where they found Cabrera inside bleeding from stab wounds. He was taken Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry and pronounced dead at 3:15 a.m.

There were indications beer had been consumed at the scene sometime before the slaying, but Pechous said no one was intoxicated when police arrived.

Court records show that when Bandala-Martinez was arrested in May for driving under the influence and a number of traffic offenses, it was Cabrera who went to the McHenry County jail to post his $300 bond, court documents indicate.

The murder was the first in McHenry in six years. The victim of the previous slaying also was a student at McHenry High School. Andrew Cooper, 16, was stabbed to death by classmate Jessie Steven Estrada on June 13, 2002, during a fight outside a private driver's education class. Estrada, at the time 15, eventually was convicted of second-degree murder.

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