Deerfield Man Faces Life In Prison After Admitting To Killing His Wife

DEERFIELD, IL — A 59-year-old Deerfield man faces up to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing his wife in 2018 after holding her hostage, the Lake County State’s Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday.

Gary Kamen pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder after prosecutors said he had admitted to police that he stabbed his wife after holding her hostage for several hours in their home on Sept. 21, 2018, prosecutors said.

“This has been a long and difficult case for the victim’s family and friends. I want to thank the prosecutors, investigators, and victim-witness counselors who have been working on this case since the beginning,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement issued Wednesday. “Our office will continue to focus on the brutal nature of this crime during sentencing.”

Kamen has been held in the Lake County Jail since he was arrested in 2108. Kamen’s bond was initially set at $10 million, but after Assistant State’s Attorneys Lauren Kalcheim Rothenberg and Scott Hoffert argued he was a threat to the family, the court ordered that he be held without the ability to post bond, prosecutors said.

Kamen’s defense attorney, James Schwarzbach, asked on Wednesday that his client be given a mental health evaluation as part of the pre-sentence investigation.

A sentencing hearing is set to be on July 18. Kamen is facing at least 20 years in prison with a potential life sentence.

Presiding Judge Daniel Shanes said Wednesday that with this type of conviction, a person must serve 100 percent of the sentence imposed.