An Elgin man who stabbed his estranged wife — and her unborn child —- to death in 2024 has been sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Pierre J. French, 38, of the 700 block of Bluff City Boulevard, pleaded guilty in May to the first-degree murder of 33-year-old Dreanna Booker and was sentenced this week by Kane County Judge Bianca Camargo, a news release from the Kane County state’s attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors said Booker gave French a ride to his residence about 11 p.m. Dec. 6, 2024. While there, they got into an argument about Booker — who had filed for divorce six months earlier — being in a relationship with another man, the release said. Booker was pregnant, something of which French was aware, the release said.
As the argument grew more heated, French took out a large kitchen knife and stabbed Booker multiple times. He then used Booker’s car to drive to the home of her boyfriend, intending to stab him but instead ramming the boyfriend’s parked car when no one answered the door, the release said.
Elgin police officers dispatched to the hit-and-run scene were unable to get French to pull over. French later called the police department to inform them he’d stabbed Booker at his home, the release said.
French was taken into custody after they located him in Booker’s car and recovered a bloody knife from the vehicle, which French admitted had been used to commit the murder, the release said.
Booker died from multiple stab wounds and her unborn child died as a result of the attack, according to a Kane County coroner’s office autopsy.
Under state law, French must serve the full 65-year sentence and will receive credit for 641 days served in the Kane County jail.
State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser, in a statement on the crime, blasted French for his actions.
“Instead of handling his problems and circumstances like an adult, this defendant chose violence,” she said. “He took his anger out on the mother of his own children, simply because he could not have what he wanted.
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“That selfish decision stole a mother from her six children, a daughter from her mother, and a sister from her siblings, all of whom should have had a lifetime of memories still to make with her. It also ended the life of Dreanna’s unborn child before it ever had the chance to begin.”