ROCKFORD, Ill. — A northern Illinois man accused of killing four people and injuring seven others by stabbing, hitting and running over them is expected back in court Tuesday.
A Rockford city judge is expected to consider prosecutors’ request to jail Christian Soto pending trial.
The 22-year-old appeared briefly in court Thursday, a day after the Rockford attacks and his arrest. His defense asked for more time to prepare for the hearing.
The Winnebago County Public Defender’s office, listed as Soto’s representative in court documents, did not return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment on his behalf.
A woman who identified herself last week as Soto’s sister declined to comment to the AP.
The Winnebago County coroner on Thursday identified the dead as 63-year-old Romona Schupbach; 23-year-old Jacob Schupbach; 49-year-old Jay Larson; and 15-year-old Jenna Newcomb.
Authorities last week described a series of frenzied attacks within minutes at multiple addresses in a Rockford neighborhood, but said they had not determined a motive.
Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley said Soto told police after his arrest that he had smoked marijuana with Jacob Schupbach and believed the drugs were “laced with an unknown narcotic” that made him paranoid.
Authorities say Soto first stabbed Schupbach and his mother and then violently attacked other people in the area and in other homes. They said he hit, stabbed and used a truck against Larson, who worked as a postal worker. three people injured in one house; and beat Newcomb, her sister and a friend with a baseball bat in another home.
Authorities said Winnebago County sheriff’s deputies arrested Soto as he fled from another home where he had stabbed a woman and was slowed by a passing man who stopped to intervene.
