4 Dead, Including Teen Who Was Killed Protecting Her Sister, in Illinois Stabbing Spree

Four people were killed, including a 15-year-old girl who died saving her sister, after an Illinois man carried out a series of stabbings and attacks Wednesday in and near the city of Rockford, officials said.

Seven other people were injured in what the mayor called a “random and senseless act of violence.”

Police took the suspect, Christian Soto, 22, into custody on charges of murder, attempted murder and home invasion. {snip}

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Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley said Soto allegedly admitted to the attacks and said he had taken marijuana he believed was “laced with an unknown narcotic” before the rampage.

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The violence unfolded Wednesday afternoon when Rockford police received a call about a person “being run over by a vehicle and possibly stabbed” outside of a home, Hanley said at a Thursday news conference.

Officers located the bodies of a man and woman identified as Jacob Schupbach, 23, and Ramona Schupbach, 63. Both appeared to have been stabbed, Hanley said.

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During an interview following his arrest, Soto allegedly told police that he was friends with the 23-year-old and went to his house to smoke marijuana. Soto said “he believes the drugs provided to him by Jacob were laced with an unknown narcotic,” Hanley said.

“Soto said he became paranoid after the drug usage. He said he retrieved a knife from the kitchen at Jacob’s house and proceeded to stab Jacob and Ramona to death,” Hanley told reporters.

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Soto allegedly told police that he left the home in his vehicle and “recalled taking out the mailman,” according to Hanley, who identified the victim as Jay Larson.

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Hanley said a witness saw Soto “battering” Larson and stabbing him numerous times with a knife Soto retrieved from his vehicle. The witness, who had called 911, said Soto then got into his pickup truck, ran over Larson and then fled on foot.

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As officers responded to the scenes, a 911 call came in about a man armed with a “katana-style knife” attacking people at another home. Three people at the residence were injured and treated at the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. {snip}

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At a separate location, three girls were attacked with a softball bat, according to Hanley. One of the girls, 15-year-old Jenna Newcomb, died.

One of the injured girls told authorities that she was at her friend’s house watching movies in a basement bedroom when Soto allegedly entered the home through an unlocked rear door. Hanley said Soto grabbed a softball bat from the kitchen, went to the basement, cursed at the girls “and asked where the gun was.”

“The girls ran to the corner of the bedroom. He started swinging the bat, striking all of the female victims,” Hanley said, getting emotional.

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Soto is also accused of breaking into a woman’s home in Winnebago County and attacking her with a knife. Hanley said the woman ran to the front yard of a nearby home where a man driving past stopped and intervened. As Soto began attacking the man, police arrived and took Soto into custody.

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A woman who identified herself as the suspect’s mother said Thursday she was in shock.

“He’s a loving person and he has never hurt anybody before,” the woman, who did not provide her name, said in a phone call. {snip}

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