'If I can’t have them neither can you': Father charged for drowning 3 kids, police say

Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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An Illinois father has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder as authorities say he drowned his three children.

Officers from the Round Lake Beach Police Department responded to a home just north of Chicago after the mother of the three children requested a wellness check for them on Monday. The mother told police she and the father did not live together and she was planning to pick up the children for a doctor's visit.

Responding officers arrived at the Round Lake Beach home and found 5-year-old Bryant Karels, 3-year-old Cassidy Karels and 2-year-old Gideon Karels dead at the home, with the father, 35-year-old Jason E. Karels, not present.

Later in the day, Illinois State Police spotted the vehicle of the father on a nearby highway, leading to a police chase. After leading officers onto multiple highways, Karels then crashed his vehicle into a wooden area.

When officers and firefighters attempted to pull Karels from the crash, authorities said Karels admitted to killing his three children, and attempted suicide multiple times before fleeing the home.

Preliminary autopsy results showed all the children died as a result of drowning, Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Newton of the Lake County Coroner’s Office said.

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"We're all touched by this. This is not something that you go to and are unaffected by," Round Lake Police Chief Gilbert Rivera said at a press conference on Tuesday. "I don't know that anything could have could have stopped this or if there were any early indications of it."

Rivera added Karels was admitted to a local hospital for injuries following the crash. He was released on Tuesday and placed into Lake County Jail. He was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors said Karels left a note for his estranged wife saying, "If I can’t have them neither can you."

Karels appeared before Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak and was ordered to be held on a $10 million bond.

Contributing: Associated Press

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Illinois father charged in the drowning deaths of his three children