10-Year Sentence For Man Who Stabbed Wife, Self In Naperville

NAPERVILLE, IL — A Naperville man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday after he was found guilty of stabbing his wife with a kitchen knife in 2019. Patrick O'Brien, 62, was convicted in August of attempted first degree murder and aggravated domestic battery.

Police were called to a home in the 2200 block of Popple Court for a report that O'Brien had stabbed his wife and then himself. According to police, O'Brien had gone back to the house to get some of his things after he and his wife had separated.

O'Brien later brandished a kitchen knife and told his wife, "if we're done, then we're done," which prompted her to run out of the house, according to prosecutors. Police say O'Brien ran after her and said “you’re faster than I thought” before pinning her against the neighbor's home and stabbing her in the arm and chest.

A neighbor then intervened and fell to the ground with O'Brien, who then was reported to have stabbed himself.

“The brutal attack shown in graphic detail on the home surveillance system captures the gruesome savagery of the attack by a controlling man who decided that if the marriage was over then his wife should die. There is no question that the neighbor’s miraculous intervention saved Mrs, O’Brien’s life,” Will County State's Attorney James W. Glasgow said in a statement.

He added, “This case bears out the stark reality in domestic violence that the most dangerous time for a survivor is when they leave their partner. Seventy-five percent of domestic violence homicides occur when the victim has left the relationship. Domestic violence is about control and power, and this harrowing near-deadly assault was the attempt at exerting ultimate control.”

O'Brien must serve 85 percent and then he will be released under mandatory supervision for three years.