'I Will Kill You,' Argument About Politics Leaves Wilmington Girl, 15, Gasping To Breathe: Prosecutor

WILMINGTON, IL — Tara Heine, a 47-year-old woman from Wilmington, who is accused of trying to strangle a 15-year-old girl on Super Bowl Sunday during an argument about politics, has been released from Will County's Jail. The Will County State's Attorney's Office's petition to deny pretrial release was turned down by Will County Judge Chrystel Gavlin on Wednesday.

On Sunday night, the Wilmington police booked Heine into the Will County Jail for the third time since mid-December. The Will County State's Attorney's Office charged her with aggravated domestic battery and three crimes of domestic battery.

According to the criminal complaint, Heine is accused of trying to strangle a 15-year-old girl inside of her apartment, grabbing the victim by the neck, striking the victim in the head and about the body.

The petition to deny pretrial release indicates that around 8 p.m., Wilmington's police were dispatched to an apartment building unit in the 800 block of East Baltimore Street for a domestic in progress. The officers made contact with Heine who opened the door and told officers they did not need to be there; she then screamed for a 15-year-old girl to come tell officers everything was fine, court files show.

Officers entered the apartment and made contact with the 15-year-old girl who was visibly upset and crying. She showed the officers her arms and hands which appeared to have hand and finger marks on them. Her face had a laceration on the upper portion of her nose, and her face appeared to be swollen on both sides, prosecutors indicated.

The teenage girl told Wilmington police that Heine caused her injuries. She stated they were arguing about politics, Heine then followed her into her room and slapped her across the left side of her face, threw her on the ground, and sat on top of her, prosecutors noted.

The girl relayed that Heine then began to punch her in the face, pull her hair, bite her hands and dig her fingers into her mouth, court documents indicate.

The victim stated Heine used one of her hands and began choking her to the point she could not breathe and it lasted approximately 30 seconds, court files noted. The teenager did not recall how Heine got off her, but that Heine stated, 'I will kill you' while choking her, the petition from prosecutors pointed out.

Wilmington police saw injuries to the teenage girl's face, arms, hands and neck.

As for Heine, she told the officers that the 15-year-old girl went back to her room, so she followed her and told her to clean her laundry. They began to argue and the 15-year-old grabbed her by the hair, according to court files.

"Tara was arrested and became argumentative and combative with officers in that she would not allow officers to safely arrest her. Tara dropped to the ground to resist arrest," prosecutors advised.

According to prosecutors, Heine was already on pretrial release in Will County for a disorderly conduct crime that happened in late October. She has prior convictions from 1999 for retail theft and separately for driving while license suspended and resisting a police officer.

Heine was let out of the Will County Jail at 4:58 p.m. on Wednesday, the jail logs show. Wednesday's ruling indicates that Judge Gavlin has ordered the Wilmington woman to be placed under electronic monitoring while her latest criminal case is also pending at the courthouse.