Woman dies, more than two months after brutal knife attack
An 86-year-old Arlington Heights woman whose grandson was charged in late October with stabbing her 16 times died Monday night at a long-term acute care center, officials said.
A Cook County medical examiner's office spokesman said Sylvia Lev, 86, of the 3300 block of Carriage Way Drive in Arlington Heights, was pronounced dead at 9:50 p.m. Monday at Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines.
The medical examiner's office did an autopsy Tuesday to determine if she died from the stab wounds or from natural causes.
No results were forthcoming by late Tuesday, and authorities speculated that it may be several days before they are.
Her grandson, Daniel G. Levine, 24, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a knife on Oct. 23, the day after Lev was stabbed 16 times. He remains in Cook County jail on $2 million bond, of which he must post $200,000.
Prosecutors said Levine told police that he wanted to kill his grandmother, with whom he was living, because she belittled and antagonized him.
Sgt. Tom Seleski of the Arlington Heights Police Department said police are waiting for the medical examiner's assessment before determining if additional charges will be filed against Levine.
"When we get the results, we will sit down with prosecutors to determine what direction we will go," he said.
Prosecutors say Levine was smoking crack cocaine in Chicago the day before the attack.
Lev tried to escape the condo during the attack, but police said Levine dragged her back into the condo and stabbed her again.
A neighbor who heard the woman's screams saw the attack in the hallway and called police, officials said.
Lev was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge in critical condition with stab wounds in her back and torso and two collapsed lungs.
Her condition stabilized, prosecutors said, and she was moved to the care center where she died Monday.
If found guilty of the felonies he is now charged with, Levine could spend 30 years to life behind bars.
But if the autopsy shows the woman died from knife wounds, those charges would be upgraded, police said.