Man Charged With Dad's Murder In Arlington Heights
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (CBS) -- A 41-year-old Arlington Heights man has been charged with the murder of his father in their home earlier this week.
Steven M. Cole is charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of his father, Stuart Cole, 69. Bond was set at $1 million.
The murder happened Monday night in the basement of their house at 2645 Stratford Rd. in Arlington Heights. Steven Cole later called 911 and angrily screamed that he had killed his father, police said.
On the call, Cole, who has a history of mental illness, was clearly agitated, claiming that his father "gave him a 105 degree fever from stress."
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"I just killed him and he's dead right now, because I can't take the physical abuse," Cole told a 911 operator. He's dead; he's lying on the ground."
"I f---ing took a knife to him and I killed him."
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He apparently also called his mother, recuperating elsewhere from surgery, and his sister with the same news, Arlington Heights police Cmdr. Kenneth Galinski said.
When police came to the house, they originally set up a perimeter, but Steven Cole later came to the door and was agitated as made admissions about the murder, police said. He was taken to Northwest Community Hospital after complaining of not feeling well, but was later booked at the Arlington Heights police station.
Steven Cole was an enthusiast in martial arts and ultimate fighting. He also suffered from mental health problems, and had a history of conflict with his father that resulted in domestic battery arrests, Galinski said.
When an order of protection the parents sought in 2007 against their son expired, they let him come back home to live with them.
"It expired, and the parents tried to make it work for many years with their son and did everything they could," Galinski said. "They thought they could let him back in the house."
But problems have persisted ever since. A neighbor, Leslie Cook, told CBS 2 Tuesday that this past Halloween, Steven Cole was seen running around the neighborhood after threatening his father. Another neighbor, Tom Kosmalski, said Steven Cole jumped into a car and smashed it into a tree three years ago after a fight with his father.
Steven Cole was arrested in the past on a forgery charge, and after he was sentenced to probation, a Cook County judge agreed to move him to the probation department's mental health unit.
Stuart Cole ran his own business for more than 30 years, business associate and friend Bob Ptaszek said. Recently, he helped get commercial loans for businesses that couldn't get a traditional bank to sign on. He was a regular Friday morning networker with the Greater O'Hare Association.
Cole also helped his son, often subsidizing his son's income when he worked as a janitor.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
