Woman accused of killing sister faced murder charge in 2001
A Carpentersville woman accused of stabbing her sister to death Monday has a history of mental illness and was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder of a man in Memphis, Tenn., who was stabbed 120 times in 2001, according to prosecutors and court records.
Kane County Judge John Barsanti set bail at $1 million Thursday for Sandra L. Baumgartner, 53, who faces between 20 and 60 years in prison if found guilty in the murder of her sister, Sharon, 57.
Police were called at about 5:45 p.m. Monday to the 100 block of South Lincoln Avenue by two neighbors who heard a disturbance.
When authorities arrived they found Sharon bleeding and she died a short time later.
Sandra Baumgartner fled the scene, but was found several hours later in a wooded area near the apartment, police said.
The sisters lived in separate apartments in the same building, police said.
Thursday, Sandra Baumgartner bowed her head briefly while Barsanti read to himself the police's version of Monday's events, and she was appointed a public defender. The synopsis was not read in open court.
Baumgartner told the judge she was unemployed and on disability.
According to Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Christine Bayer and court records, Sandra Baumgartner was found not guilty by reason of insanity of an April 2001 stabbing murder and was sentenced to intensive outpatient treatment.
According to court records, Baumgartner's attorneys cited her history of schizo-affective disorder, bipolar type, and said she was not able to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct when she stabbed Danie Morgan 120 times during an altercation in his apartment.
An appeals court reaffirmed in April 2013 that Baumgartner remain in intensive outpatient treatment and live with her parents.
The ruling came after numerous psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors and other medical personnel testified in a 2002 hearing that Baumgartner was not an immediate danger to society.
A psychologist, Dr. Travis McNeal, testified that Baumgartner had received mental health treatment from 1992 through 2001, the year Morgan was killed, according to court records.
McNeal testified Baumgartner had no aggressive behavior during that time and that Baumgartner's mental state deteriorated over a period of months because her antipsychotic medication was inadvertently switched for an antidepressant, records show.
Baumgartner is next due in court on Oct. 16 and must post $100,000 to be released from the Kane County jail while her case is pending.