Naked Man Kidnaps Lincolnwood Woman, Barricades Self In Her Home While Wielding Knives

SKOKIE, IL — Authorities said an 80-year-old Lincolnwood woman was held hostage in her home for more than 18 hours Sunday after she awoke to find a naked man in her bed brandishing scissors.

James Davis, 32, of Chicago, was ordered held without bail on class X felony charges of home invasion and aggravated kidnapping with a dangerous weapon following an initial court appearance Tuesday in Skokie.

Davis also currently faces two counts of aggravated assault against a police officer, a class 2 felony, after he stabbed the ballistics shield of a member of a suburban SWAT team after barricading himself in a second-floor bedroom in the woman's home, according to police and prosecutors.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jenna Reinhardt said Davis apparently cut himself on the glass while breaking into a home near the corner of Morse and Kilpatrick avenues through a basement window, leaving his blood around the house before climbing into the bed of the homeowner, naked and shivering.

Investigators believe Davis discarded his clothes during a mental health crisis, according to a statement from Lincolnwood police.

The resident, who lives by herself and had never met or had any prior contacts with Davis, awoke around 1 a.m. to find Davis in her bed, brandishing a pair of scissors at her, according to the prosecutor. He demanded her phone, and tossed it and the scissors across the room.

"[Davis] told [the woman] that his clothes had trackers on them and insisted again that he would not hurt the [her] if she did not lie to him," Reinhardt said. "The victim felt afraid for her life."

When Davis was unable to warm up in the bed, he grabbed the woman and forced her into the bathroom, turned on a hot shower and made her lie on top of him in her nightgown, the prosecutor said. Afterwards, she gave him dry clothes from her closet, but he refused to allow her to change out of the wet clothes.

Davis told the woman he wanted to tie her up but was unable to find any suitable restraints upstairs, according to Reinhardt, so they headed into the kitchen, but Davis was unsatisfied with the tape on hand.

Reinhardt said Davis told the woman he "liked the knives" hanging on the wall of her kitchen, and mentioned he hadn't seen them when he "cased the house." They walked down to the basement, where Davis left the woman in a bathroom, blocked the door with a chair and left her there. At that point, the prosecutor said, the woman feared for her life if she tried to escape.

That evening, a neighbor called 911 after ringing the woman's doorbell and getting no response, even though her car was in the driveway, according to the prosecutor.

Police said they arrived for a well-being check around 9:40 p.m. after a family member reported they had not heard from the woman. Officers soon found the woman in the bathroom and took her to safety about 18 hours after Davis left her there.

Officers discovered a locked room upstairs and, after gaining entry, found Davis inside wielding two knives. Police said they were initially unable to use a Taser to take him into custody.

"[Davis] told officers that they had better kill him and charged the officers," Reinhardt said. "The officers then retreated from the home and established a cordon," according to the prosecutor.

Lincolnwood police called in the Northern Illinois Police Alarm Service's Emergency Services Team, an intergovernmental suburban SWAT team, authorities said. But Davis barricaded himself in another room and continued to refuse to surrender. Eventually, police cut a hole in the wall and were able to shock him with a Taser as he stabbed a police riot shield, officials said.

Two days prior to Sunday's standoff, Davis was arrested after stealing an ax from the Walmart at 8500 W. Golf Mill Road in Niles, according to Reinhardt. Niles police reported Davis appeared to be drunk and that officers found cannabis on him at the time of his arrest, the prosecutor said. He was released from the station on his own recognizance ahead of a Feb. 22 first court appearance on the retail theft charge.

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Davis has no prior felony convictions, authorities said. Between 2007 and 2017, he was convicted of disorderly conduct twice, and criminal damage to property and driving under the influence once, the judge was told at his initial court appearance, where the state's attorney's office sought to have him held without bail ahead of trial.

Davis is due back in court Feb. 23. Prosecutors said they expect to seek a grand jury indictment, which may additional felony charges, in the case.

Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese granted the prosecutors' motion to order Davis held without bond and his public defender's request that he be detained at the Cook County Jail's medical division.

Calabrese said he was convinced that Davis posed a significant threat to the community, acknowledging the "terror which must have been inflicted on an 80-year-old woman who finds herself accosted by a stranger in what had been previously the sanctity of her own home."

He said the kitchen conversation about knives contained in the allegations would have been especially terrorizing for the homeowner.

"Eventually, the victim is locked in a bathroom, or placed in a bathroom, and remains there for some 18 hours out of sheer fright," Calabrese said. "That's the only way I can describe it, is sheer fear for her life. I can't imagine how much time 18 hours of that is. It must have seemed like an absolute eternity to the person left."