Dad Charged For Drowning 3 Kids To Pay Back His Wife

Jason Karels left a vengeful note for his estranged wife after drowning their three children, ages 5, 3 and 2, one by one in a bathtub amid the couple’s divorce proceedings.

The suburban Chicago man left a note for his estranged wife saying, “If I can’t have them neither can you.”

Prosecutors mentioned the note Wednesday during a bond hearing for 35-year-old Jason Karels of Round Lake Beach. He faces three counts of first-degree murder in the drowning deaths Monday of 5-year-old Bryant Karels, 3-year-old Cassidy Karels and 2-year-old Gideon Karels.

Prosecutors say officers sent to his home to check on the welfare of the children found the note.

A Lake County judge ordered Karels held on a $10 million bond. It was not immediately known if Karels had a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office will seek to hold Karels without the possibility of cash bond, and that motion will be heard in court on July 13, prosecutor Jeff Fackham said.

Karels was arrested after leading police on a chase that ended in a crash Monday at an Interstate 80 bridge in Joliet, Round Lake Beach police Chief Gilbert Rivera said at a news conference Tuesday.

Karels was hospitalized after the crash but has since been released, prosecutors said. I uRivera said the parents shared custody of the children but did not live together.