Crime & Safety

Alleged Steak Knife Head-Stabber Caught, Appears in Court

A Lockport man is being held on a $500,000 bond for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend in the head with a steak knife.

By Joseph Hosey

A Lockport man charged with stabbing his girlfriend in the head with a steak knife was apprehended in Chicago and appeared in bond court Friday afternoon.

Daniel Bandemer, 33, told Will County Judge Rick Mason he has no job, income or assets. Mason appointed the public defender's office to Bandemer's case and kept his bond at the $500,000 set on the warrant for his arrest.

Bandemer allegedly stabbed his live-in lover in the head during an argument over money at their South Jefferson Street home Tuesday. Police responding to 911 calls reportedly found the bleeding 35-year-old woman and learned she had been knocked unconscious but made one of the emergency calls after she came to.

During his bond hearing, Bandemer said one of his two children lives with him. His girlfriend has a daughter of her own, according to court papers. Bandemer did not say whether any children were home when he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend.

Bandemer faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated domestic battery, aggravated battery and interfering with the reporting of domestic battery. He's looking at a possible 30 years in prison.

The alleged knife attack would not be the first violent episode Bandemer perpetrated against his girlfriend. He pleaded guilty in July 2010 to a charge of aggravated unlawful restraint in connection with an incident in March of that year.

That charge stemmed from Bandemer holding a knife to the woman's throat and forcing her to drive him around. He was sentenced to two years probation.

In a petition for a protective order sought by the girlfriend in October 2010, she claimed Bandemer threatened to tie her to her bed and set her house on fire. She also said he spoke of killing her children and accused him of breaking her eardrum in 2005.

"He says he loves that I fear him because he is God and always threatens to kill," the woman wrote in her petition.

None of Bandemer's friends or family attended the hearing.

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