Man Denied Bail After Fatally Stabbing Wife In Chicago-Area Home

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A man accused of fatally stabbing his wife in their suburban Chicago home was denied bail on Friday, ABC7 Eyewitness News reported.
Gary Kamen faces two counts of first-degree murder after stabbing his wife, Karyn, on Sept. 21 in Deerfield, Illinois.
He was initially being held on a $10 million bond, but it was revoked after prosecutors argued that he posed “a real and present threat to the physical safety to members of his family,” according to court documents obtained by the Daily Herald.
Gary Kamen held his wife hostage after their two high school-aged sons left for school, according to the documents. He handcuffed her and sexually assaulted her with an unidentified object, according to police reports.
The documents also highlight the gruesome crime scene: Karyn Kamen was found in the upstairs bedroom with 15 stab wounds. She died the next afternoon of sharp force trauma, according to an autopsy report.
Gary Kamen blacked out after drinking whiskey and taking Ambien, according to court documents. When he awoke and saw his wife on the floor, he called 911 and admitted to killing her. Officers found several suicide letters Kamen had written.
Karyn Kamen was known for being a dedicated mother and a helpful, energetic neighborhood parent, the Chicago Tribune reported. She often made the driving arrangements for after-school rehearsals, performances and bar and bat mitzvah events.
She was constant presence at her sons’ schools and an active volunteer within the Jewish community, Felicia Lev, executive director of Congregation B’nai Tikvah, told the Tribune.
A traditional Jewish memorial was held for Karyn Kamen at Shalom Memorial Park in Arlington Heights on Thursday. A fund has been set up for her sons’ education at Congregation B’nai Tikvah.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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