A 55-year-old live-in caretaker faces 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to torturing and starving a young child over a period of three years commencing in 2021. The child’s mother, a single parent, is awaiting trial for the same offense.
Today, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie L. Mosser announced that Eulalia Vences of Elgin has agreed to a sentence of 20 years of imprisonment for a guilty plea to the offense of Aggravated Battery – Great Bodily Harm, a Class X felony. Judge Julia Yetter accepted the plea.
…at age 7, [the child] was brought to the emergency room of Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin for cardiac arrest and unresponsiveness. Doctors were able to stabilize the child but found the child’s weight to be only 14 pounds…
According to prosecutors, between March 5, 2021, and March 5, 2024, live-in caretaker Vences and her co-defendant, the child’s mother, severely neglected and starved the child, who, in March 2024, at age 7, was brought to the emergency room of Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin for cardiac arrest and unresponsiveness. Doctors were able to stabilize the child but found the child’s weight to be only 14 pounds and their condition to be consistent with severe intentional physical torture, psychological torture, and medical neglect. Vences and the child’s mother were both charged with multiple counts of Aggravated Battery, Aggravated Domestic Battery and Child Endangerment.
In accordance with Illinois law, Vences must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence. She receives credit for 596 days served in the Kane County jail.
“In my many years as a prosecutor, this is one of the most disturbing cases I have encountered,” Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Schmidt said. “For an adult to neglect, torture, and starve a child in their care, with such wanton disregard for the child’s well-being, is both unforgivable and horrendous. As a result of these actions, the child, who fortunately survived the abuse, will face long-term medical complications and lifelong psychiatric consequences. The defendant admitted her guilt and received a sentence that holds her accountable for her actions. She can now spend the next two decades reflecting on the harm she inflicted on an innocent child.”
