Joliet man found guilty of attempted murder in 2009 knife attack

A 48-year-old southwest suburban man was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder after he attacked his girlfriend with a knife in 2009.

Bradley Schlott of Joliet was found guilty Wednesday at the end of a five-day trial and three hours of jury deliberation, according to the Will County state’s attorney’s office.

Schlott, who believed his then-girlfriend was having an affair, attacked her on March 12, 2009, while she was getting ready for work in their Joliet home, a statement from prosecutors said. Schlott repeatedly punched her in the face, grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground.

With his knees on her chest, Schlott began to choke her before pulling a large hunting knife from behind his back. He used the knife to cut away chunks of her hair, then slice her neck and the side of her left breast, prosecutors said.

The girlfriend, bleeding and bruised, convinced Schlott to call 911, telling him she would say her injuries “were the result of an accident,” according to prosecutors.

Evidence at the trial included letters written by Schlott that proved “he had every intention of killing his girlfriend,” prosecutors said. One letter to the victim’s family apologized for her murder, but said she was having an affair and “had robbed him of his money, family, career, dignity and sanity.”

The letters shattered the defense theory that Schlott attacked the woman after “he had become involuntarily intoxicated on prescription medication he was using to treat his depression,” according to prosecutors.

“Bradley Schlott is a weak and jealous man who savagely attacked his former girlfriend because he could no longer control her,”state’s attorney James Glasgow said n the statement. “In his cowardly rage, he hatched a plan to brutally murder her and then commit suicide. By fighting back, this courageous victim not only saved her own life, but helped police and prosecutors put this monster behind bars.”

Schlott faces between six and 30 years in prison when he is sentenced May 3.