A 60-year-old Ingleside woman faces charges of aggravated battery and attempted murder in connection with a stabbing late Monday afternoon where she allegedly attacked a woman walking with her child in the Grant Woods Forest Preserve.
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Authorities say the suspect, Marquette Owens, is known for walking the trails at the preserve north of Rollins Road, and she was arrested at her Ingleside home without incident shortly after the attack on another woman who was walking with a child.
“She lives in the area, and she frequents the Grant Woods Forest Preserve in that area,” said Cmdr. Jim Siefken with the Lake County Forest Preserves Ranger Police.
According to a police statement, the attack occurred around 4:20 p.m. on a trail heading north into Grant Woods from a parking lot on the south side of Rollins Road, less than a mile west of Fairfield Road. The area of the attack is near what is known as a the south loop trail.
Siefkin said ranger police have not had any contact with Owens in the past.
He added investigators are still planning a follow-up interview with the victim and only talked to her a short time Monday at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where she was transported after the attack for treatment of injuries described by police as not life-threatening.
According to the police statement, there were no injuries to the woman’s child, who was described as younger than age 10.
“Our officers and detectives did an excellent job in investigating the case that subsequently led to charging Owens,” Siefken said in Tuesday’s statement. “Safety within the Lake County Forest Preserves is our number one priority.”
Following her arrest, Owens was transported to the Lake County jail, where she remained held on $750,000 bail Tuesday.
