Crime & Safety
Mokena Woman Gets 10 Years for Killing Mother
A Mokena woman was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for stabbing her mother to death. Mental illness was blamed for the 2010 murder.
A Mokena woman was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for stabbing her mother to death. Mental illness was blamed for the 2010 murder.
Gaye Wern Tuesday was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stabbing her mother to death. Mental illness was blamed for the 2010 murder.
Wern last week pleaded guilty by reason of mental illness, to the second-degree murder of her 89-year-old mother Tresa McCauley.second-degree murder of her 89-year-old mother Tresa McCauley. The Dept. of Corrections will evaluate Wern's placement and determine her eligibility to serve her time in the DOC's Dept. of Human Services. With day-for-day credit, she could be released from prison in five years.Wern, who suffers from mental illness and depression, had been living with her mother in the condominium for seven months when the murder occurred. She was taking care of her mother, who had suffered a broken leg in July 2009. The stabbing occurred Feb. 15, 2010, while Wern was bathing her mother in the tub at their shared condominium in the 19500 block of 116th Avenue in Mokena.
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About 5 1/2 hours later on that winter afternoon, Wern walked into the Mokena police station and confessed to the front desk clerk that she had just killed her mother. Police found the body in the tub with multiple stab wounds. A bloody knife was found on the ledge.
After pleading guilty, one of her two attorneys, Frank Cservenyak, said the months of care giving had taken a toll on Wern. She hadn't been sleeping. Her mental illness in combination with fatigue was a factor in the case. On the morning of the murder, McCauley criticized her daughter for the care she was providing, Cservenyak said.
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An emotional sentencing hearing
Today, just over 3 1/2 years later, Wern entered the Will County Courtroom solemnly. A divorced mother of three grown children, she sat motionless and stared straight ahead. Her composure lasted until she spied her attorneys, Cservenyak and Steve White. Her ex-husband, Mike Wern, took a seat as close to her as he could get—the first row of spectators.
Standing before Circuit Judge Robert Livas she took off her glasses and wiped away a stream of quiet tears that didn't go unnoticed by her ex-husband. Tapping his foot nervously, her ex-husband, who now lives in New Lenox, leaned in to follow the proceedings.
Before passing sentence, Livas said, "I don't know that I've ever seen a case in my 33 years as a lawyer and a judge," when mitigating factors played such a significant role.
"Even the victims' impact statements, half of it addressed Ms. Wern. The ultimate tragedy of this is that it might have been avoided, if strangely enough, Ms. Wern had taken better care of herself."
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