Deerfield man pleads guilty to 2018 sexual assault, fatal stabbing of wife; ‘Our office will … focus on the brutal nature of this crime during sentencing’

A Deerfield man pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually assaulting and stabbing his wife to death in 2018 in the couple’s home, Lake County prosecutors said.

Gary Kamen, 59, could face a sentence of up to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Karyn Kamen, who was 53 when she died in September 2018. Gary Kamen agreed to plead guilty during a Wednesday hearing before Judge Daniel Shanes, who is scheduled to sentence Kamen next month.

Prosecutors said Kamen’s plea includes an admission that he committed the murder in a brutal and heinous manner, indicative of wanton cruelty. That makes him eligible for a sentence higher than the usual range of 20-60 years in prison.

“This has been a long and difficult case for the victim’s family and friends,” State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement Wednesday. “I want to thank the prosecutors, investigators, and victim-witness counselors who have been working on this case since the beginning. 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 Sept. 21, 2018.

Authorities said that Kamen handcuffed, sexually assaulted and then stabbed his wife about 15 times in their Deerfield home.

Police who responded to the residence found Karyn Kamen unresponsive in an upstairs bedroom. She underwent emergency surgery, but died the following day.

Authorities recovered a broken knife handle and bloody blade in a master bedroom sink.

According to court motions filed in the case, Kamen told authorities that he had been drinking and might have taken a sleeping pill, and that when he awoke he found his wife in a pool of blood.

In news accounts from around the time of the crime, friends and relatives recalled Karyn Kamen as an energetic, involved mother to her two sons, and a longtime school substitute teacher who brimmed with enthusiasm.

Gary Kamen is scheduled to be sentenced July 18. His attorney, James Schwarzbach, asked that a mental health examination be conducted as part of the presentence process.