Man Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Estranged Wife & Daughter

The Chicago Tribune reported that 46-year-old Christopher Rood pleaded guilty to home invasion and armed violence after breaking into the home of his estranged family and stabbing his ex-wife and daughter with a knife.

Jayne Rood was hospitalized for several weeks for wounds to her head and abdomen, while 17-year-old daughter Molly Rood was treated at the emergency room for several body wounds. Both have recovered from their injuries, at least physically.

Christopher Rood is scheduled to appear in court on June 11 for sentencing and could receive as many as 90 years in prison for the charges of home invasion and armed violence.

The defendant entered the home around 2:40 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2008 through a basement window and confronted his ex-wife and daughter in the master bedroom, according to DuPage County State's Attorney David Breyer. Then he allegedly asked to talk to them but became "enraged" after Molly Rood tried to call 911, stabbing them both.

The separated couple's two other children, both boys, were in another room and were not involved in the altercation.

He fled the house, tried to escape by car, and then attempted to flee on foot after police pulled him over. He was found hiding in a creek and a six-inch knife also was recovered near the scene, which eventually was shown to match the victims' wounds.

But while this is a criminal matter and thus wouldn't be handled by an Illinois family lawyer, it's a disturbing example of how things can go horribly wrong in the wake of a split. Jayne Rood received an order of protection (also known as a restraining order) against Christopher Rood months before the attack of armed violence.

The armed violence attack occurred three months after she sought a divorce, according to the Chicago Daily Herald. The order of protection was sought for alleged "extreme and repeated mental cruelty." The divorce was finalized a little more than a week ago.

He had been granted supervised visitation with his children in 2008, following a three-week stay in a hospital psychiatric ward, court records cited by the Daily Herald indicate.

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