Sleepy Hollow man pleads guilty to sexual assault, attempted murder in attack on teens
A Sleepy Hollow man who sexually assaulted and stabbed a 19-year-old woman, and stabbed her 17-year-old brother when he tried to intervene, has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Fabian J. Torres, 34, accepted a sentence July 14 of 38 years in prison, according to Kane County court records.
Torres had faced dozens of felony charges in connection with the April 2019 attack in a house in the 900 block of Saratoga Parkway.
According to authorities, Torres had met a neighboring woman and decided to kidnap her. He bought bear repellent, pepper spray and rope, and packed a bag with those items and male enhancement supplements. Torres was armed with two knives when he entered the woman's house through an unlocked screen door, authorities said. Once inside, Torres forced a 19-year-old woman to undress and perform a sex act on him in a first-floor room while her brother was ordered to sit in a corner, according to a police affidavit for a search warrant. The woman grabbed the knife, the three fought and the woman stabbed and ran to a neighbor's house. Her brother ran upstairs to get a shotgun and tried to shoot Torres, but the gun jammed.
Torres stabbed the brother in the head, face, neck and torso before leaving.
He left behind the bag containing his wallet and cellphone. He entered another house nearby and briefly held a woman at knifepoint, demanding she give him a ride in her car. When she refused, he ran off.
"The level of severity of violence in this offense is off the charts," Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Bill Engerman told a judge at Torres' bail hearing. Torres has been held without bail since his arrest.
Torres, who was on parole for aggravated arson at the time, later told authorities he had taken cocaine before the attack.
He was initially charged with two counts of attempted murder, four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, eight counts of home invasion, two counts of armed violence, two counts of attempted aggravated kidnapping, four counts of aggravated battery and four counts of aggravated unlawful restraint.
In 2015, Torres pleaded guilty but mentally ill to a charge of aggravated arson, for firebombing the deli section of an Algonquin grocery store in 2011. Police said Torres told them he did it because he was angry with an uncle, and to make a political statement. He also told police he wanted his arms removed and replaced with robotic arms. He was released from prison in October 2018.