Crystal Lake man charged in Hanover Park murder
By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com
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| Ronald O'Rourke ( ()) |
HANOVER PARK – Prosecutors said a Crystal Lake man stabbed a woman to death in her Hanover Park home after he broke in to steal drugs.
Ronald O’Rourke, 46, is being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder, home invasion, and residential burglary.
The victim, 51-year-old Pamela Howat, was found Saturday stabbed nine to 10 times, mostly in the throat and face, DuPage County Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Ruggiero said.
“They used to work with each other, and she was friends with him,” Ruggiero said. “She was a nice lady; she helped a lot of people.”
It was Hanover Park’s third murder in three days and the fourth in two weeks.
Ruggiero said O’Rourke was identified as a suspect by the victim’s son and a friend. She had told them that she suspected O’Rourke had been breaking into her house because he knew where she hid a spare key outside.
O’Rourke voluntarily spoke with police and gave a videotaped statement, Ruggiero said.
“He did acknowledge going in there to steal,” Ruggiero said. “There was a confrontation. He stated that she came out with a sharp object, and in fighting her off, that’s how she got stabbed.”
The murder weapon likely was a pair of gardening shears or scissors, he said.
O’Rourke is addicted to crack cocaine, Ruggiero said, and has a criminal history, including stabbing a prostitute in a similar manner in Eugene, Ore.
He was convicted in McHenry County of felony domestic battery for backhanding his one-time live-in girlfriend, leaving a scrape above her right eye in August 2004. Court records show that he also was convicted of battery for a 1996 incident involving another family member and of theft of services. Later, he was convicted of domestic battery in 2000 in Cook County.
In a February 2005 request for an order of protection, the victim in the 2004 domestic battery said she feared for her life after O’Rourke had called her to say he had gotten out of jail in Oregon. He told her that he was coming to Illinois.
The woman said she wasn’t going to allow him to see their daughter because she had found “numerous sexual objects” made from her daughter’s toys and thought he had mutilated some of the girl’s clothing.
“Now that I know what he is and what he is capable of, I’m petrified of what he will do,” the woman wrote before receiving an order of protection. “He has a history of domestics with me, and now I’m afraid he just may kill me.”
• Northwest Herald reporter Jillian Duchnowski contributed to this report.
