Palatine man who decapitated mother could be released in 2016

Karl Sneider decapitated his mother, Kathryn Sneider, and put her head on the porch after he killed the then 49-year-old woman in her Palatine home Jan. 28, 2003. He was charged with first-degree murder but found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Sneider has been at the Elgin Mental Health Center since, but at a hearing scheduled for January, he could be released and permitted to move to a facility such as a halfway house.

Kathryn Sneider's brother, Bill Larson, plans to be at the hearing. He doesn't think Karl should be released.

“This just is not right — he took a life,” Larson said, but adding, “All my family members think this was a tragedy — he was crazy.”

Mark Heyrman, a mental health lawyer, is representing Sneider now and says he doesn't pose a threat to the public and has been in remission for a while.

“People found not guilty because of insanity don't commit ordinary crimes,” Heyrman said. “People acquitted for reason of insanity have a very idiosyncratic cause for criminal behavior.”

Karl Sneider testified that God told him he was Jesus Christ and his mother was Satan, and he had to kill the devil. He beat, stabbed and decapitated Kathryn after she got home from work, and he placed her head and the knife he used to stab her on the front porch. Karl then cleaned himself with pages from his Bible.

The same day, Karl Sneider stole a neighbor's car that was running and eventually spun out while driving near Roselle Road. State troopers investigating the spinout apprehended him near Hickory and Ela roads in Palatine Township.

Heyrman said people behaving in this way often will kill a specific loved one and pose zero threat to anyone else.

“The question is why has he been in the hospital for so long,” Heyrman said.

In 2010, a judge expanded Sneider's privileges in Elgin after a Cook County assistant public defender called him a “model patient” and stated his illness, bi-polar disorder, was in remission. Sneider also has a history of past cocaine, heroin and alcohol use.

When Sneider has his January hearing, a judge will first have to decide whether he continues to be dangerous.

Then, the judge will consider whether the plan Elgin Mental Health Center has come up with for Sneider's conditional release is safe.

“The judge has a lot of discretion to say something different,” Heyrman said, adding Sneider has been asymptomatic for “years and years.”

The Elgin Mental Health Center could not be reached for comment Wednesday on Sneider's case.

Bill Larson said his sister was afraid of Sneider before he killed her and would often call him crying as Karl became violent.

“We think what he did was somewhat premeditated,” Larson said. “He beat her up; he was smart.”

Larson said he forgave Sneider because he knew his sister would forgive her son.

“But when you take a life, you get sane and then you serve your time,” Larson said.