Authorities: Man charged in wife's slaying held her hostage, stabbed her 15 times
A Lake County judge ordered a Deerfield man temporarily held without bond after being accused of stabbing his wife more than 15 times while she was handcuffed and held hostage in their house.
Judge Paul Novak set a new bond hearing for Thursday for Gary A. Kamen, 55, Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Scott Hoffert said. Until then, Kamen has been told to hire an attorney or formally request representation from the Lake County public defender's office.
Hoffert is pushing to keep Kamen in Lake County jail without bail while awaiting trial because Kamen poses “a real and present threat to the physical safety to members of his family,” Hoffert said in a court document filed Tuesday.
A previous judge ordered Kamen held on $10 million after he was charged Saturday with two counts of first-degree murder.
Kamen would have needed to post the required 10 percent of the bail to be released from jail.
In the court document, Hoffert said Kamen admitted to police he was armed with a knife while he held his wife, Karyn, as a hostage for several hours in their house in the 1000 block of Peachtree Lane after their children left for school Sept. 21.
Gary Kamen sexually assaulted his wife an unidentified object while she was handcuffed, Hoffert said in the court document. He also shut the windows and blinds, moved his wife to different locations and changed the position of the handcuffs.
The document states Gary Kamen drank whiskey and took Ambien before blacking out. When he regained awareness, Karyn Kamen was on the floor covered in blood, according to the document. Gary Kamen called police and told them he stabbed and killed his 53-year-old wife, the court document reads.
Police found Karyn Kamen in an upstairs bedroom with more than 15 stab wounds, the document reads. She was transported to Highland Park Hospital where she was pronounced dead the next day despite several surgeries performed to save her life, the document reads.
Police recovered the knife, the object used in the sexual assault and several suicide letters written by Gary Kamen.
In addition to the confession to police, Gary Kamen called his brother and police officers overheard him admit “he had a psychotic episode and killed his wife,” the document reads.