20-Year Sentence For Downers Grove Man Who Stabbed Mother To Death

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — A Downers Grove man was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty, but mentally ill, to charges that he fatally stabbed his mother in 2018.

On Jan. 9, 2018, police were called to a home in the 2300 block of 63rd Street for a report of a fatal stabbing. Officers found that Patricia James, 51, had been stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife in the home she shared with her son Kevin, then 23.

The caller, James's sister, told police her brother had stabbed their mother. Deputies arrived to find Patricia James covered in blood and lying unresponsive on the front room floor with multiple stab wounds, officials said. She was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police said Kevin James was inside the residence when they arrived and took him into custody. According to Daily Herald, James told investigators "he saw green demons and dinosaurs surrounding his mother and he wanted her go to heaven."

The Daily Herald also reported that James was attempting to take his own life by running at cars after stabbing his mother.

James was taken into custody and charged with first degree murder, and was held at the DuPage County Jail on $3 million bond.

“Yesterday afternoon, Kevin James was sentenced to twenty years behind bars for the stabbing death of his mother,” DuPage County Robert Berlin said in a statement.

Berlin added, “This tragic case has deeply affected the James family and with Mr. James’ plea of guilty but mentally ill and the agreed twenty-year-sentence, it is my sincerest hope that the family will be afforded some measure of closure. I wish them strength as they continue their lives as the comforting memories of Patricia must now replace the love and support she once provided.”