Officials say Round Lake Beach father charged with drowning children left note at scene: ‘If I can’t have them neither can you’

The Round Lake Beach man accused of killing his three young children in an apparent custody dispute left a note saying, “If I can’t have them neither can you,” a Lake County prosecutor said at a bond hearing Wednesday.

Jason E. Karels, 35, was ordered held, temporarily, in lieu of $10 million bail by Judge Theodore Potkonjak. The matter is due back in court this afternoon on a state motion to deny bond.

Karels is accused of three counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his children, Bryant, 5, Cassidy, 3, and Gideon, 2. Authorities said he drowned the children in a bathtub at his home in the 200 block of East Camden Lane sometime over the weekend.

When Karels’ estranged wife went to the residence Monday in an attempt to pick up the children, she found them dead on a bed, Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Facklam said at the bond hearing. Police found the note inside.

Karels was arrested Monday afternoon after police saw his vehicle in south suburban Cook County. Authorities say Karels led police on a 17-minute, high-speed chase before crashing in a wooded area near Joliet.

He appeared for the hearing over Zoom Wednesday from the Lake County jail. Karels told the judge that he did not have money for an attorney, and Potkonjak appointed the public defender’s office.

The prosecutor said that Karels drowned his children one at a time in a bathtub, and then tried to kill himself. At a news conference Tuesday, police said they found blood at the residence that they think came from Karels.

Facklam asked that Karels be held in lieu of bond, saying Karels would face a sentence of natural life in prison if he were to be found guilty of more than one count of murder. The judge, though, said prosecutors needed to file a formal motion asking to deny bond.

Facklam said he would file the motion before Wednesday afternoon’s session, and the judge is expected to take it up then.

Karels and his wife separated about a month ago, and she and the children moved out of the house where the family had lived for the last five years, according to authorities. The wife had left the children to spend the weekend with their father, but went to the residence Monday afternoon after she was unable to contact her estranged husband, police said.

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