Parolee who viciously slashed DePaul grad went on week-long robbery, carjacking spree: prosecutors

For more than a week, a Chicago man released earlier this year on parole went on a carjacking and robbery spree that included an attack in which he slashed the throat of a recent DePaul University graduate, prosecutors testified in court Friday.

Adam Bramwell, 32, stood with his hands handcuffed behind his back and his head bowed during much of his bail hearing Friday as he faced the 11 felony counts against him, including a charge of attempted first-degree murder in the slashing.

Prosecutors described the July 18 attack in brutal detail, including that the 22-year-old woman’s blood was found splattered on the wall of a building and pooled in the alley off the 3200 block of North Halsted Street.

She lost two liters of blood in the attack and suffered 15 lacerations to the front of her throat and more to the side of her neck, as well as a severed tendon in her finger and has suffered two strokes, prosecutors said. She spent a month after the attack recovering in a hospital, where she underwent two surgeries.

Prosecutors said Bramwell drove past the woman about 3:30 a.m. that morning in a 2010 Suzuki SUV that he had stolen the night before.

Chicago police

He pulled into the nearby dead-end alley, got out of the car and hid, grabbing her as she walked by and pulling her into the alley, prosecutors said. He put a knife to her throat and tried to force her into the SUV, but slit her throat as she resisted and pulled out chunks of her hair. She managed to run from the alley, at which time Bramwell got back into the SUV and attempted to run her down before fleeing in the car, prosecutors said.

The woman was able to run a half-block north on Halsted, where she collapsed. It was 15 minutes before a person passing on the street saw her and flagged down a Chicago Fire Department vehicle.

A rusty hacksaw blade was recovered from the alley, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said DNA evidence found under the woman’s fingernails was still being processed, but that data from Bramwell’s phone tracked his movements before and after the attack, for which he also faces felony counts of attempted kidnapping and aggravated battery.

Earlier attacks

Bramwell is also accused of stealing a 56-year-old woman’s 2019 Honda Fit at knifepoint from her garage on July 13 in the 1800 block of North Fremont Street.

About 8:30 a.m., he followed the woman when she pulled into her garage and held a four-inch blade to her, prosecutors said. He told her to shut the garage door and she did, afterwards giving him $7 in cash and her driver’s license from her purse.

When she tried to open the garage door and run out, Bramwell caught her, tearing her clothes as he threw her to the ground and choked her, prosecutors said.

She managed to scream and Bramwell got into her car and drove away, prosecutors said.

Chicago police

Both the Honda and the Suzuki were found burning less than a day after the 22-year-old woman was attacked, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have also charged Bramwell with an attempted carjacking July 8 when he allegedly approached a woman after she got into a Zipcar in a parking garage. Bramwell tried to open the doors, but the woman had already locked them, prosecutors said. Bramwell made a motion that he had a weapon in his waistband, but walked away.

Prosecutors said he waved at her as she drove out of the garage and he stood by the exit.

Prosecutors said cell phone records and city cameras were used to place Bramwell in the area at the time and date of most of the incidents, and tracked his movements from the crimes to the area near a Park Manor home where he was living.

Bramwell was taken into custody last month in Houston, Texas, police said.

Sun-Times file photo

Prosecutors said Bramwell was on parole at the time of the attack for a 2017 unlawful use of a weapon conviction that he was sentenced to four years in prison. State prison records showed he was released from the Dixon Correctional Center in March.

An assistant public defender for Bramwell said he was living with his brother and had been working as a laborer for the last six months.

Judge Susana Ortiz ordered Bramwell held without bail on the charges and set his next hearing for Tuesday.