THREE LITTLE ANGELS
Debra Karels tried to keep her kids safe. But someone she should have been able to trust was the most dangerous of all...
With Mickey Mouse Clubhouse blaring on the TV, Debra Karels could often be found dancing with her ‘three little angels’.
Incredibly close, Bryant, five, Cassidy, three, and Gideon, two, would always be found twirling together in their Illinois home.
And for Debra and her husband Jason, they loved seeing their kids happy and would often join in to dance with them.
Like most siblings, the three all had very different personalities – Bryant was on the cusp of starting kindergarten but was clever beyond his years. Curious and bright, he wanted to fly to the moon one day – he was going to be an astronaut.
Cassidy was her mother’s mini me. Her eating buddy, she was the sweetest girl in the world – but like most little girls, she could have a temper at times. But Debra knew that meant her brothers would always be safe, with their sister to stick up for them. And at just two, Gideon was a miracle baby. A proper mummy’s boy, he loved dinosaurs and always had a big smile on his face. Debra wasn’t sure she was able to have more kids after Cassidy – but little Gideon completed their family.
But by summer 2022, the happy family appeared to be having problems. Jason had
The kids were always dancing
posted a cryptic Facebook post explaining he was in a ‘dark place’, but said his wife was helping him.
But while Jason was struggling with his mental health, he was neglecting his family – opting to spend hours playing video games rather than playing with his kids. Dancing was left to Debra. And sadly, despite trying to help her husband, the marriage broke down before the summer. With Debra gaining majority custody, she still allowed the kids to spend time with their dad. She believed that Jason should be able to spend time with them. His mental health had deteriorated, but he’d promised he’d look after his children – and Debra had no reason to doubt him. With Debra taking on the role of a main caregiver, Jason would still get weekends with the kids.
And on 13 June 2022, Bryant, Cassidy and Gideon were staying with their dad for the weekend.
Debra had called them the night before, sending her love before bedtime, and was due to pick them up for a routine doctor’s appointment.
‘I love you so much. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,’ she’d told them.
Arriving at Jason’s property on East Camden Lane in the Sutton-on-the-lake subdivision at lunchtime, there was no sign of Jason or the kids.
So becoming increasingly worried, Debra decided to enter the property.
And what she found was nothing short of horrific.
Her three babies – her angels – were all in the
bedroom. Cold and unresponsive, they were already dead.
And Jason was nowhere to be found.
At 1.40pm, police responded to a welfare call made by Debra and confirmed the horrific truth – her sweet babies were gone forever.
But what had happened? And where was Jason?
Police immediately made Jason a person of interest and set about tracking him down.
And when they found him, what followed was a highspeed police chase, resulting in Jason crashing his Nissan off Interstate 80 near Joliet.
Sadly, police wouldn’t need to wait much longer to hear the ghastly truth – as Jason was lifted from the wreckage of his car, he indicated he was responsible for the deaths of his children.
He also said that he had tried to take his own life several times, too.
And officers did find blood at the property, allegedly Jason’s.
But the most stricken piece of evidence found that fateful day was a note.
A note that Jason had written for Debra.
If I can’t have them, neither can you, it said.
It turned out that Debra had wanted full custody of her kids.
And Jason disagreed – he saw her motherly care as a threat to him.
The children’s bodies were taken for an autopsy, where it was revealed all three of them had been drowned. Drowning them in the bathtub, one by one, Jason had murdered his children. Their final moments must have been terrifying.
Jason was someone they were meant to trust.
He was their dad – someone you should always be able to rely on.
Instead, he cruelly snuffed out their light.
Bryant’s intelligence, Cassidy’s sassiness and Gideon’s loving nature, all snatched away in minutes.
And after killing them, Jason had put them to bed before attempting to take his own life and fleeing.
On 13 July 2022, Jason was indicted by a grand jury on nine counts of firstdegree murder.
Chief of the Felony Division of the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, Jeff Facklam, said he had charged Jason with three different counts for each of the children he was accused of killing.
Only Jason pleaded not guilty, and was held in jail while a trial date was set.
It wasn’t until 15 December last year that Jason accepted a plea deal.
He pleaded guilty but mentally ill to three counts of first-degree murder, admitting that he did drown Bryant, Cassidy and Gideon.
Guilty but mentally ill means that a defendant has a mental illness but still understands the difference between what is right and wrong.
Lake County judge, Judge Booras, accepted the negotiated charges and described killer Jason Karels’ truly evil actions as ‘sickening’ and ‘despicable’.
And Jason will be sentenced to life in the Illinois Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
He will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
And poor Debra will spend the rest of her life mourning her three children.
‘He knew that nothing mattered to me more than those children. He took them away from me because he knew it would hurt me the most,’ Debra said, speaking to ABC7 Chicago last year. ‘I just wish I was there for them that day. I wish I was there to grab them before this all happened.’
Jason wanted to steal the most precious things away from Debra.
If he couldn’t have them, no one could.
And he achieved that. Bryant will never make it to the moon. Cassidy won’t grow up to be the powerful woman her mother believed she would be. And Gideon will never smile at his mum again.
And now, when music comes on in Debra’s household, she will be dancing on her own.
‘I wish I was there for them that day’