Father Sentenced For Drowning Three Young Children: 'If I Can’t Have Them, Neither Can You'
A 36-year-old father has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2022 drowning death of his three children, all under the age of 5.
On Feb. 16, the Lake County State's Attorney's Office announced Jason Karels was been sentenced to life in prison without parole. This follows his guilty but mentally ill plea in December 2023 for the drowning his children; Gideon, 2, Cassidy, 3, and Bryant, 5, as reported by the Lake & McHenry County Scanner.
On June 13, 2022, around 1:40 p.m., the Round Lake Beach Police Department received a welfare check request in the 200 block of East Camden Lane. The state's attorney's office reported that the children's mother discovered them lifeless and promptly summoned officers to the scene.
Inside the home, police reportedly discovered the children, along with a note from Karels that read, "If I can't have them neither can you."
Karels fled the scene before investigators arrived. However, later that day, Illinois State Troopers pursued Karels' vehicle for 17 minutes and arrested him after he crashed near Interstate 80 and Water Street in Joliet. During his arrest, Karels reportedly made "statements to police officers regarding his role in the triple homicide."
WGN-TV reports that at the time of their deaths, the mother, Debra Karels, was actively seeking full custody of the victims. The parents were estranged from each other during this period.
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The Lake County Coroner's Office concluded that the children had drowned. During sentencing, the children's mother, maternal grandmother, and aunt provided impact statements. The family called the victims "beautiful, innocent children who did not deserve what happened to them."
The state's attorney's office characterized Karels as a "monster," emphasizing that he "was the one person who was supposed to love and protect them at all costs and instead, he did the complete opposite." Chief of the Domestic Violence Division, Eric Kalata, denounced Karels' actions as "brutal, evil, and sinister."
Judge James Booras labeled the crime as "sickening" and "despicable."
