Severity of violence 'off the charts': Sleepy Hollow man charged with attempted murder in attack on teens
After meeting a neighbor over the weekend, Fabian J. Torres of Sleepy Hollow decided to kidnap her, authorities said Thursday.
He went shopping Monday morning at Menards and Farm and Fleet to buy bear repellent, pepper spray and rope.
He packed a bag with those items along with Extenze Male Enhancement supplements and a penile pump, authorities said, and then walked into a house through an unlocked screen door on the 900 block of Saratoga Parkway.
Once inside, authorities said, Torres sexually assaulted and stabbed a 19-year-old woman and then stabbed her 17-year-old brother when the teen tried to intervene.
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Bill Engerman presented that outline of the case Thursday as he argued that Torres should remain in jail, with no bail, while awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, home invasion and sexual assault.
"The level of severity of violence in this offense is off the charts," Engerman said.
Associate Judge Keith Johnson agreed, over the objection of the public defender representing Torres at bond call.
Engerman cited reports of two interviews police conducted with Torres after he was arrested. He also showed video captured by the victims' doorbell security camera.
The video shows a man wearing a black Calvin Klein T-shirt and carrying a bag, entering the house. A witness said the suspect was wearing a black Calvin Klein T-shirt.
Torres made the woman undress and sexually assaulted her, Engerman said, and when her brother intervened, Torres stabbed him.
The camera shows the man leaving without the bag but carrying a knife. Authorities said Torres left the bag behind and it contained his cellphone and wallet, including identification.
Torres then entered a nearby house, holding a woman at knife point, authorities said. The woman told the Daily Herald on Tuesday that a man entered her house and demanded she give him a ride in her car, but she refused and tried to calm him down, and the man ran off, saying he was insane.
"The facts of this case are horrific. This is one of the most violent cases we have charged in my years as the Kane County state's attorney," State's Attorney Joe McMahon said at a news conference after the hearing.
The woman in the first house was stabbed in one calf and in both hands. The boy was stabbed in the head, face, neck and torso. Both remain hospitalized, McMahon said.
Torres, 32, is charged with two counts of attempted murder, four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, eight counts of home invasion, two counts of armed violence, two counts of attempted aggravated kidnapping, four counts of aggravated battery and four counts of aggravated unlawful restraint.
Torres is on parole for aggravated arson. He pleaded guilty but mentally ill in 2015 to that charge after he was accused of firebombing the deli section of an Algonquin grocery store in 2011.
At the time, police said Torres told them he did it because he was angry at his uncle, and to make a political statement. He also told police he wanted his arms removed and replaced with robotic arms.
Torres was released from prison in October 2018. He has been working at a Village Pizza since then, Engerman said.
Engerman said Torres had used cocaine Sunday night and Monday morning.
McMahon declined to say whether Torres is mentally ill, saying he was limited to speaking about what had been presented in court. In the Algonquin case, a court-appointed psychologist deemed Torres to be mentally ill. The psychologist's report was sealed by the McHenry County circuit court.
Torres' next court date is 9 a.m. April 17 in front of Associate Judge David Kliment.
A neighbor has set up a GoFundMe account, "Sleepy Hollow Family In Need," to raise money for medical bills, home repairs, meals and travel expenses.