Convicted Kane County murderer charged with attempted murder in Sycamore

SYCAMORE – A convicted Kane County murderer who went to prison in 1996 for killing an Aurora teen athlete and was released four months ago was charged Tuesday with the attempted murder of a Sycamore man, court records show.

Leo A. Navar, 45, who told authorities that he has lived in Sycamore since his release after more than 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated domestic battery. He’s accused of a violent attack on a woman and her adult son about 10:46 p.m. Tuesday inside their Sycamore apartment, according to DeKalb County court records filed Wednesday.

Navar appeared before DeKalb County Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick on Wednesday afternoon for a pretrial release hearing. Buick ordered Navar to be detained, granting prosecutors’ requests.

The DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office had filed a petition Monday requesting that Buick deny release to Navar. They argued that freeing Navar would put the community and the people he’s accused of attacking at risk. His defense attorney, public defender Brian Wilson, did not argue for his release, citing his parole hold through the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In her ruling, Buick said Navar’s charges were “violent in nature, they are assaultive in nature, [and] they resulted in alleged very serious physical harm to the named alleged victim,” she said.

In a pretrial release risk assessment obtained by the Shaw Local News Network, DeKalb County parole officials Wednesday had determined that Navar qualified for release pending trial.

Sycamore police responded to a 911 call on Fairland Drive that reported a man had knocked on a neighbor’s door reporting an altercation. When police arrived, they found three people were involved in an attack, including a man outside who appeared injured, police said in an incident report filed in court.

Officers saw blood on the man’s shirt. He also had a swollen left eye and red marks on his neck, and appeared distressed, police said. Inside the unit, police found a woman and Navar. The woman told police that both men lived with her, according to court records.

The injured man alleged to police that, while inside the apartment’s bedroom, the woman and Navar got into a verbal argument “in reference to some text messages found on Navar’s phone that [the woman] did not like,” according to court records.

The injured man told police that when he knocked and then opened the bedroom door, he allegedly found Navar on top of the woman, choking her. The man pushed Navar off the woman and the two began arguing, according to court records.

The man alleged that Navar “threw the first punch, hitting him in the eye and disorienting him,” according to court records. “[The man] stated he attempted to fight back, but Navar grabbed him by the throat with both hands, pushed him onto the bed and began to choke him,” according to court records.

The man alleged to police that while he was being choked, he could feel oxygen leave his brain, and he had blurry vision and impaired hearing. He told police that while he was being attacked, Navar told him to shut up, threatened to kill him and insulted the woman, according to court records.

After Navar allegedly choked the man again, the woman pushed Navar off the man, which allowed the injured man to stand up, leave the apartment and ask for help, authorities said.

The injured man was taken by paramedics to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital for treatment. Hospital workers told police that the man suffered multiple orbital fractures to his left eye and a tendon injury in his eye, leaving his eye unable to move and requiring surgery, according to court records.

“Based on the defendant’s risk of misconduct and the nature of the offense, the defendant appears to be appropriate for release pending trial,” a DeKalb County pretrial officer wrote Wednesday.

The determination recommended that Navar be released and placed on a GPS monitoring device, and be prohibited from contacting the victims in the case.

Pretrial release risk assessments are conducted using data including a person’s criminal history and history of appearing in court as ordered, and a guideline called the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment. The assessment also takes into consideration a person’s status at the time of their arrest and risk to the community, and recommends conditions a judge could set to mitigate risk if released.

Navar is on a parole hold since he recently was released from prison for his 1996 murder conviction, records show.

Navar was 16 when he shot to death Aurora Central Catholic High School basketball star Moshe Rogers on Feb. 17, 1995, a Kane County guilty conviction ruled, the Chicago Tribune reported March 4, 1996. Navar was convicted of the murder March 17, 1996, and sentenced to 65 years in prison. He served less than 28 years, according to a May 1996 Chicago Tribune story.

He will remain held without release at the DeKalb County Jail through his next hearing, which is set for 9 a.m. June 18.