Left: Eulalia Vences. Right: Natali Cruz-Gemchi (Kane County Jail).
An Illinois woman is headed to prison for decades for neglecting and torturing a 7-year-old boy who weighed just 14 pounds when he arrived at the hospital suffering cardiac arrest.
Eulalia Vences, 55, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to aggravated battery with great bodily harm, the Kane County State's Attorney's Office said. The investigation began in March 2024 when Vences and the boy's mother, 33-year-old Natali Cruz-Gemchi, brought their unresponsive child to the emergency room at Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, which is in the Chicago area.
Doctors stabilized the boy but found him to be woefully underweight at 14 pounds. His condition was "consistent with severe intentional physical torture, psychological torture and medical neglect," prosecutors said.
Vences, the boy's live-in caregiver, and Cruz-Gemchi had been neglecting the boy for at least three years. They were charged with several counts of aggravated battery, aggravated domestic battery and child endangerment. Vences will receive credit for the nearly 600 days of time served and will be incarcerated for at least 85% of her sentence before she's up for parole.
The case against Cruz-Gemchi is ongoing. She has a court hearing scheduled for Jan. 21.
"In my many years as a prosecutor, this is one of the most disturbing cases I have encountered. For an adult to neglect, torture, and starve a child in their care, with such wanton disregard for the child's well-being, is both unforgivable and horrendous," Assistant State's Attorney Lori Schmidt said in a statement. "As a result of these actions, the child, who fortunately survived the abuse, will face long-term medical complications and lifelong psychiatric consequences. The defendant admitted her guilt and received a sentence that holds her accountable for her actions. She can now spend the next two decades reflecting on the harm she inflicted on an innocent child."