A 35-year-old Elgin man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his part in a violent kidnapping in 2023 that left the victim with fractured bones and stab wounds, among other serious injuries.
Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser announced yesterday that Judge John Barsanti has sentenced Darnell L. Rhodes to 15 years of imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
On August 13, 2025, a jury convicted Rhodes of aggravated kidnapping inflicting great bodily harm, a class X felony.
According to prosecutors, between March 13 and March 14, 2023, Darnell Rhodes, along with codefendant Roger A. Heaps and another man, kidnapped and violently assaulted a woman they knew. The defendants threatened her with a knife and drove her to one of their residences. There, they confined her, binding her with electrical cords. During the kidnapping, the defendants stabbed the victim in both of her legs and physically beat her.
The victim sustained a nondisplaced fracture of her left rib, a fractured right pinky finger, one stab wound to her right upper leg and three stab wounds to her left leg, and numerous additional injuries, including bruises, trauma to her left forearm, and blunt force injuries to her head and face, leaving both eyes swollen shut.
“The victim in this case showed courage in attending this trial and incredible toughness in surviving that night,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Stajdohar. “The Office of the Kane County State’s Attorney and all of its members stand with this victim. Our thoughts are always with her, and our greatest hope is that she will one day put this day behind her.”
In accordance with Illinois law, Rhodes must serve at least 85% of the sentence. Rhodes receives credit for 1,283 days served in the Kane County jail.
