Just eight months after authorities released Peter Jones early from prison on an attempted murder sentence he received for stabbing his girlfriend 17 times with a butcher knife, the 71-year-old viciously attacked his new girlfriend with an axe on New Year’s Eve, prosecutors said Sunday. He’s now charged with trying to murder her, too.
Jones received a 55-year sentence for repeatedly stabbing his girlfriend in 1993 after she tried to break up with him, according to prosecutors. He served only half of that time when authorities released him on April 26, 2021.
Prior to the 1993 attempted murder, he was convicted of second-degree murder in California in 1972, prosecutors said. He was paroled in 1978, made his way to Illinois, and was convicted the next year of rape, robbery, armed violence, and unlawful restraint, according to state records.
Chicago police officers who responded to a “check the well-being” call at Jones’ apartment on the 7900 block of South Langley around 10 a.m. Friday found Jones standing in the hallway with his blood-covered hands and arms raised, prosecutors said.
“Arrest me,” Jones allegedly told the cops. “Handcuff me.”
He told them there was an injured woman inside the apartment, prosecutors said.
Officers found his girlfriend of two months lying on the floor behind the apartment door, bleeding profusely, according to the allegations. She had been savagely attacked with an axe that was lying nearby. Blood was spread throughout the room.
Despite her incapaciting injuries, the woman was allegedly able to confirm that Jones attacked her when police asked if he was responsible. Jones later admitted to hitting her with a hatchet, prosecutors said.
The state provided Judge Mary Marubio with graphic details of the woman’s injuries, which included multiple, severe head wounds and traumatic injuries to her wrist and hands. She may never see out of her right eye again, Marubio was told.
The woman has undergone several surgeries and is currently unconscious, but her condition has stabilized, according to statements made during Jones’ bond hearing Sunday.
Assistant Public Defender Courtney Smallwood said Jones is enrolled in a janitorial and maintenance program. He served honorably in the Marine Corps in the 1960s, she said.
Marubio ordered Jones held without bail. The Illinois Department of Corrections will be reviewing his parole status in light of the new allegations.