Jury finds Mark Alex guilty of attempted murder for hatchet attack on wife in Crystal Lake

In just about an hour Monday, a man was found guilty of attempting to kill his wife when he struck her repeatedly with a hatchet and hammer in her Crystal Lake apartment.

Mark Alex, 60, who has been in jail since his arrest on March 6, 2022, the day after attacking his wife who had filed for divorce nine months earlier. He was found guilty of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, Class X felonies, and two counts of aggravated domestic battery. He now faces 12 to 60 years in prison when sentenced June 5.

In closing arguments, Assistant State’s Attorney Ashur Youash told jurors Wilma Alex, 39, met Mark Alex, a Polish-American truck driver, on a Philippine dating website in 2014. They married in 2015 and she moved to the United States. For the first three years, until her son was born, Wilma Alex lived with Mark Alex in his truck.

[ Wilma Alex shares her story of abuse ]

Youash said Mark Alex had been verbally and physically abusive during their marriage, often calling her derogatory names. He accused her of marrying him to get a green card, which the prosecutor said she did not, and noted they did not live a lavish lifestyle but quite the opposite.

[ Read Wilma Alex's statement after ex-husband's conviction ]

“For three years, she lived in the back of a truck,” the prosecutor said. “For three years she went cross-country and worked for him.”

Wilma Alex filed for divorce June 21, 2021, and was “ready to move on,” but Mark Alex “wasn’t going to let her walk away,” Youash said. If Akex couldn’t have her, “then no one was going to have her.”

On four occasions after filing for divorce, police were called to the apartment for verbal and physical domestic altercations, authorities said. During one incident, Wilma Alex testified last week, he threatened to kill her and himself and kicked her in the abdomen. Mark Alex’s defense attorney, Dan Hofmann, sought to cast doubt on this and other allegations of abuse and threats.

But according to prosecutors, as Wilma Alex began to gain her independence, she reached out to a church, started “standing on her own,” got a job, bought a vehicle and was caring for her son.

The weekend prior to the attack, she went to church with Mark and their son. She invited him to come visit the following weekend, as it was the start of Mark’s week to have the child, per their separation agreement.

But before heading to her apartment that day, Mark Alex stopped at Home Depot in Algonquin and bought a hammer and hatchet. He left the store at 2:18 p.m. – captured on store video surveillance – and drove less than 15 minutes to Wilma’s home. Before going inside he unsheathed the hatchet and unwrapped the hammer from its packaging and put them in a backpack, Youash said.

He also brought a speaker with which they played music and danced with their 2-year-old son, and she cooked his favorite Philippine meal. But less than 30 minutes after he arrived, “he hit her ... he tried to kill her,” Youash said.

He said that before attacking Wilma Alex in the bathroom, Mark Alex double locked the door and turned the volume way up on the radio. A neighbor testified last week to arriving home about 3:10 p.m. and hearing the loud music coming from Wilma’s apartment. Youash said Mark Alex knew he wanted to drowned out her screams. He hit her “over and over and over and over,” the prosecutor said.

Wilma Alex testified the attack began in the bathroom, where he first said he loved her but that he was going to kill her, that he had bought the hammer for her and it was the perfect size. She fell to the ground and pretended to be passed out so he would stop.

The attack then led into the living room, where she hit him with a toy truck, grabbed his genitals and bit his finger until he finally stopped and left, saying he was going to kill himself, she testified.

She “fought for her life,” Youash said.

Jurors saw pictures of the petite woman bloodied, the hammer and hatchet bloodied and pieces of her hair. They heard her 911 call in which she pleaded for help and for responders to come quick. She tells the 911 operator her husband tried to kill her. Her son can be heard in the background crying.

Hofmann told a different story, describing wounds on her forehead as “nicks.” He said Wilma Alex “knew how to push {Mark Alex’s} buttons” when she didn’t give him her phone, told him to leave and denied him sex, and contended she was “up to shenanigans.” In opening statements, Hofmann referred to the day as a “date night.” He described the attack as a fight they were having until they decided not to fight anymore.

In closing arguments, the defense attorney told jurors the state did not prove its case of attempted murder and that Mark Alex did not try to kill Wilma. Hofmann tried to convince the jury that Mark Alex was guilty of aggravated domestic abuse and not attempted murder.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Hofmann said. “She invited him over, made dinner, they danced, hugged and kissed. They planned to go to church the next day and have sex.”

Mark Alex brought the tools, Hofmann said, “to persuade Wilma to be truthful. The intent was to scare, not to kill.”

After the jury swiftly rejected that idea, Wilma Alex released a statement thanking those who had supported her during the ordeal.