Man Cut Off Rival's Genitals, Left Him For Dead: Police

DES PLAINES, IL — A Florida man is accused of severely beating and mutilating a Des Plaines resident who recently began dating the attacker's ex-girlfriend, authorities said. The survivor of the March attack has spent months in the hospital and will never fully recover from his injuries, which include being beaten with a tire iron and having his genitals cut off, according to prosecutors.

Over the course of the monthslong investigation, police said they identified a suspect within weeks and executed dozens of warrants and subpoenas before investigators obtained a warrant and traveled to Florida to take the man into custody.

Justin Foster, 28, of the 400 block of Belmont Road in Tallahassee, Florida, was held without bail Friday on charges of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery, according to Cmdr. Christopher Mierzwa. Foster was taken to the Leon County Jail in Florida last month by detectives from the Des Plaines Police Department and members of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office with the help of Tallahassee police. On Thursday, after waiving an extradition hearing, he was taken to Des Plaines.

At a hearing Friday, prosecutors said Foster flew to Chicago from Atlanta and rented a car the day before the attack, according to the Chicago Tribune. Foster confronted the Des Plaines man with a tire iron, hitting him in the head until he lost consciousness before carving his initials into the man's leg, cutting off his genitals and throwing them over a fence, prosecutors said. He then returned to O'Hare International Airport and caught a flight back to Atlanta.

The 26-year-old Des Plaines man Foster is accused of trying to murder was found lying unconscious, unresponsive and bleeding heavily on a parkway around 3:16 a.m. on March 14 in the 1100 block of Holiday Lane, Mierzwa said. It appeared he had been beaten to the brink of death in his head and body, he said. Paramedics took him to Lutheran General Hospital before he was transferred to Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago for treatment for life-threatening injuries.

Mierzwa described the investigation as labor-intensive and thorough. He said more than 40 search warrants and 20 subpoenas were issued prior to Foster’s Aug. 25 arrest.

Investigators believe Foster only knew the man he allegedly tried to kill because the man recently started dating Foster's former girlfriend.