Police have arrested a homeless man who allegedly broke into his former girlfriend’s home and told two of their children he intended to cut her head off with a saw he was wielding.
Keith W. Gerkin, 42, of the Waukegan area, was arrested late Monday and charged with criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property, according to Assistant Lake County State’s Atty. Jeff Pavletic.
Gerkin, who fathered the woman’s four children, allegedly broke a window pane and an inner door to get into the home of Amy Aldape outside Round Lake in unincorporated Lake County.
Aldape, 34, and her fiance were not at home at the time, Pavletic said. Gerkin’s 12- and 14-year-old children reported him as saying: “Where’s your mother? I’m here to cut her head off!”
Pavletic said sheriff’s police are still trying to recover the saw and determine whether it was a handsaw or a power saw.
Additional charges may be placed, he said.
Gerkin’s bond was set at $15,000 Tuesday by a Lake County judge.