Mokena Teen Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Sister's Murder

Keith Randulich, of Mokena, will be 58 years old when he is released from prison, according to a release from the Will County State's Attorney's Office. 

Randulich, 19, was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for the 2009 murder of his 4-year-old sister, Sabrina Clement. Prosecutors had asked Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak to sentence Randulich to life in prison or to sentence him to a term of 60 to 100 years so that he would never walk free in society again, according to the release.

As , Randulich said he killed his sister to protect her from someone he believed was abusing her. On May 22, 2009, Randulich took Clement to the basement of their home and stabbed her to death with a steak knife while she was lying on the floor. His parents were not home at the time.

A brother was playing video games in another part of the house while the killing took place. Clement suffered what Assistant State's Attorney Mike Fitzgerald described in court as "numerous massive stab wounds to her neck."

When Mokena police arrived at the family home in the 19000 block of York Drive that day, they found Randulich covered in blood, according to court records. Randulich had called 911 and said he'd killed his sister with a knife.

According to the release, Randulich entered a blind plea of guilty to first-degree murder in December. Prosecutors filed a motion indicating they would seek a life sentence because the crime was brutal and heinous and involved a child younger than 12.

"This was a crime of unspeakable cruelty and horror,” State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in the release. “Sabrina Clement trusted and loved her brother unconditionally, and she suffered terror and agony at his hands in the last moments of her short life."

Randulich would have graduated from in Frankfort a week after the murder. The Randulich family lived in Tinley Park before moving to Mokena. This was Mokena's first murder in more than 25 years.