A woman was left unconscious with serious injuries after a vicious attack in Round Lake that prosecutors say was committed by a Beach Park man who tried to kill the victim.
Jakei K. Johnson, 24, of Beach Park, called 911 just after 11 p.m. on May 28 reporting that he found his friend unconscious and bleeding from her face, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell.
Officers arrived at the victim’s residence in the 200 block of West Forest Avenue in Round Lake and located the victim and Johnson in his vehicle.
Officers saw the victim was bleeding profusely from her face, had both eyes completely swollen shut, had a possible broken nose and was choking on blood while begging for help, McConnell said.
The victim was provided emergency care and transported by ambulance to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
She was attempting to communicate with officers and doctors at the hospital and was able to provide her mom’s name and phone number but had to be sedated due to her injuries and the blood in her throat, McConnell said.
Doctors advised police that she had a broken nose and likely broken orbital bones but imaging was unable to confirm due to the severity of the swelling at the time.
The doctors also advised that they believed there would be some vision loss due to the injuries the victim suffered. The victim was not able to give a statement about what happened at the time she was hospitalized.
McConnell said officers spoke with Johnson who said that he had come over to the victim’s house and approached her side sliding door when he observed a male in a mask and wearing gloves attacking the victim.
Johnson told police he rushed into the apartment and tried to fight the suspect off of her and then took the victim outside to call for help.
Johnson suffered a broken knuckle in his left pinky finger and was also transported to the hospital, McConnell said.
Officers were able to obtain surveillance footage from the victim’s apartment complex, which showed the entries to her unit.
McConnell said the footage for the night showed Johnson and the woman arriving together at her apartment around 9 p.m, the victim leaving the apartment with Johnson’s car keys retrieving something from his car and then returning to the apartment.
It also showed the victim retrieving a food delivery and returning to the apartment and then showed her stumbling out of the apartment at 11:09 p.m., approximately two minutes before Johnson called the police, McConnell said.
The surveillance footage showed no one else entering or exiting her apartment from the time the two of them arrive to her unit.
Officers arrested Johnson and he was interviewed and confronted with the surveillance footage.
He admitted that he lied about how the victim got injured and what happened, McConnell said.
Johnson said that he and the victim are in a sexual relationship and they had gone over to the victim’s apartment and were hanging out when he disclosed to the victim that he was depressed and had suicidal ideations, which led to the victim slapping him in the face.
Johnson told police he responded by pushing the victim to the ground and he “blacked out” and punched the victim three times, McConnell said.
Johnson said that he realized that he had “almost killed this girl” and needed to get her help so he took her outside and called police, McConnell said.
Officers noted that the victim’s injuries were “not at all, even a little bit,” consistent with his claim that he only hit her three times. “…nor does this Defendant’s statement that the victim’s response to him telling the victim he was depressed was to start a verbal fight with him and then slapped him make any sense.”
McConnell said that Johnson’s lies to police and then subsequent statements about what happened were an effort to obstruct their investigation and minimize his accountability.
The prosecutor said Johnson has a FOID card and has access to firearms at his residence but the total number of firearms he has access to is unknown.
He is also over a foot taller than the victim but “chose to beat her so severely that he broke his pinky while beating her and he had a small cut on the knuckle of another finger,” the prosecutor said.
“This Defendant had no other wounds on his body indicative of this victim even having the slightest chance to fight back, this Defendant had no scratch marks, no swelling, no bruises,” she added.
Johnson was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery by strangulation causing great bodily harm, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Johnson pending trial and the request was granted by Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim following a detention hearing.
He remains held in the Lake County Jail.