Elgin woman gets 20 years for murder

An Elgin woman has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a man with whom she was in a relationship.

Sylvia Camacho, 60, made her plea Dec. 18. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but will have to serve only half of that before she is eligible for parole, according to Kane County court records.

She received credit for the 32 months she has spent in the Kane County jail awaiting trial. Bail had been set at $2 million when she was arrested, and she would have had to post $200,000 bond to be freed.

Camacho stabbed Peter Lopez, 56, to death on April 9, 2023, in the home they shared on Ryerson Avenue in Elgin. She stabbed him in his chest.

She was initially charged with first-degree murder, but the charge was reduced in the plea agreement to second-degree murder.

At the time of the stabbing, Camacho was participating in a pretrial diversion program from a 2021 case where she was charged with felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, felony domestic battery causing bodily harm and misdemeanor domestic battery. Lopez was the victim in that case.

Camacho had also been charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in 2007, but pleaded guilty to battery.