Inset: Pablo Contreras (McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office). Background: The McHenry County Government Center in Woodstock, Illinois. (Google Maps).
An Illinois man has been sentenced for trying to kill his wife by running her over multiple times with his car.
Pablo Contreras, 51, was sentenced on Tuesday to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree murder. According to McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi L. Freese, Contreras was fighting with his wife, who has not been named publicly, on May 22 outside their home in Oakwood Hills, Illinois. After getting into his 2020 Volkswagen Jetta, Contreras put the car in reverse and, Freese said, intentionally backed over his wife.
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After Contreras’ wife was “knock[ed] to the ground,” she screamed at her husband to stop. Instead, he accelerated in reverse and ran her over again, dragging her under the car down the road. The attack was not over.
Freese said in her press release that after Contreras backed over his wife twice, he put the car in drive and ran her over again. He then fled the scene, leaving his wife lying in the street with “devastating injuries, including a broken clavicle, broken elbow, fractured sternum, multiple broken ribs, a shattered pelvis, and a fractured sacrum.”
Contreras’ wife survived the attack, and her husband was arrested and charged with five felonies and a misdemeanor. All but the attempted first-degree murder charge were dropped as part of his plea agreement.
Freese said Contreras “ran over his own wife, ignored her screams, and left her broken and helpless in the street.” According to court documents obtained by local news outlet Lake & McHenry County Scanner, the couple was fighting about the disclosure of the wife’s inheritance.
Police said Contreras returned to the scene after his wife was taken to the hospital, but never reported the crash. He was detained at the scene and denied hitting his wife with his car. Contreras then changed his story, claiming he did not mean to hit her.
At Contreras’ sentencing hearing on Tuesday, McHenry County Judge Mark Gerhardt sentenced Contreras to nearly two decades behind bars. The 18-year sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. Contreras will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before being considered for release.
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