Man gets 40 years for kidnapping, torturing ex-girlfriend

A Waukegan man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Monday for kidnapping and torturing his ex-girlfriend in a North Chicago apartment over 24 hours in January 2013.

Jerimiah Cochran, 34, was convicted in May on two counts of criminal sexual abuse and a single count of aggravated kidnapping. According to prosecutors, he hit the North Chicago woman in the head and drove her to a North Chicago apartment, where he beat and raped her and tried to pull out her teeth.

Cochran's cousin - Natalie Myers, 33, of Waukegan - pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping for helping Cochran in the Jan. 25 attack, Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Matt DeMartini said.

DeMartini said Myers was offered a plea deal after she agreed to testify against her cousin at trial. Her sentencing is set for next month.

DeMartini said the victim had taken Cochran's two children to see his mother in Waukegan when Cochran and Myers attacked her.

With the help of the cousin, DeMartini said, the victim was thrown into a car and driven to a North Chicago apartment Cochran frequently visited, where she was placed in a bedroom and repeatedly beaten and raped.

During the ordeal, DeMartini said, the victim was routinely kicked and punched in the head, and that the defendant went as far as to try to pull the victim's teeth out using a pair of pliers.

The woman escaped by crawling out of a bedroom window and running to a nearby home. Police were called, and she was taken to a hospital in Waukegan.

The maximum prison sentence was 90 years, DeMartini said, but he said he asked for a sentence of 60 years. Defense attorneys requested closer to 18 years behind bars.

Cochran must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before being eligible for parole.