Elgin man gets 15-year sentence for 2023 kidnapping

An Elgin man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for kidnapping a woman with two other men three years ago, authorities said.

Darnell L. Rhodes, 35, of the 1200 block of Fleetwood Drive, was sentenced Friday by Kane County Judge John Barsanti.

In August 2025, a Kane County jury convicted Rhodes of aggravated kidnapping inflicting great bodily harm, but acquitted him of attempted murder and armed violence.

County prosecutors said that Rhodes, along with two other men, kidnapped and assaulted a woman they knew on March 13 and 14, 2023. They threatened her with a knife and drove her to one of their homes, where she was bound with electrical cords.

There she was stabbed in both legs and beaten, authorities said. The woman suffered a broken rib, a broken finger, bruises, blunt-force injuries to her head and face and four stab wounds, according to prosecutors.

Rhodes will have to serve at least 85% of the sentence, or nearly 13 years, before he is eligible for parole. He received credit for the 3½ years he has spent in the Kane County jail awaiting trial and sentencing.

Co-defendant Roger Heaps pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in 2024 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The third man, Lloyd Hayes Jr., also was charged with kidnapping and attempted murder, but Barsanti dismissed the indictment against him earlier this year, ruling prosecutors violated Hayes’ constitutional right to a speedy trial.

ssarkauskas@dailyherald.com