A man convicted of murder for the 2013 stabbing death of his neighbor, whose home he was burglarizing, was sentenced to 50 years in prison Monday.
Paul A. Johnson, 36, was convicted in May of stabbing Lisa Koziol-Ellis to death in her townhouse. Monday, Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles sentenced him to 50 years in prison, according to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office.
Sometime between the night of March 1 and early morning March 2, Johnson broke into Koziol-Ellis’ home in the 1-99 block of Garden Crescent Court in Elgin, thinking no one was there, authorities said.
Koziol-Ellis, 19 at the time, found him there, and he stabbed her 55 times in the head, neck, torso and arms, according to prosecutors. Thirteen of those wounds were defensive and “consistent with being stabbed by a knife and an object such as a screwdriver.”
Koziol-Ellis’ husband found her dead in their home when he returned from work about 2:30 a.m., according to the state’s attorney’s office. Johnson was arrested on March 17.
At the time of the murder, Johnson was on parole for a 2010 residential burglary conviction. He was also onvicted of armed robbery twice in 2001, authorities said.
“Mr. Johnson has proven many times in his adult life that he has no interest in living in a community of decent citizens,” state’s attorney Joe McMahon said in the statement. “It’s sad that the only place he fits in is in a prison cell.”
By law, Johnson must serve the entire sentence, prosecutors said.
