Elgin man charged with attempted murder after violent attack on woman in Sycamore

SYCAMORE - An Elgin man is charged with attempted first-degree murder after Sycamore police said he violently attacked a woman, beating and choking her.

Tyler R. Palmer, 28, of the 2200 block of Colorado Avenue in Elgin also is charged with aggravated domestic battery causing strangulation and unlawful restraint following an attack police said they began investigating Friday.

If convicted of the most serious crime, attempted first-degree murder, a Class X felony, Palmer could face up to 30 years in jail and fines up to $25,000.

Palmer appeared before DeKalb County Associated Judge Joseph Pedersen on Monday for an initial bond hearing, which was continued for another day. He was represented by Public Defender Tom McCulloch, who agreed to set the matter over for Tuesday.

Palmer will remain held in DeKalb County Jail with no bond until at least Tuesday, during which a judge will rule on a request filed by the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office to hold Palmer in jail with no bond throughout the course of his proceedings. He’s being held on a no-bond warrant currently, filed by DeKalb County State’s Attorney Rick Amato.

According to DeKalb County court records, a DeKalb woman came into the lobby of the Sycamore Police Department on Friday and told police she’d been attacked by a man, allegedly Palmer. Police said they could see bruising on the left side of her face.

The woman told police she’d gotten into a verbal argument with Palmer, and it escalated after it turned physical, when he began to strike her in the face with a closed fist, records state.

The woman told police Palmer struck her in the head with an aluminum bottle and got on top of her, placing both arms around her neck and squeezing. The woman told officers she lost consciousness and came to later, with a pillow over her face. She said Palmer had allegedly attempted to tie her feet together with rope.

In a Sunday news release, Sycamore police said the woman was able to escape and was helped by her friends, therapist and police before receiving medical care for her injuries.

On Saturday, Sycamore police found Palmer in DeKalb, the release states, and successfully made contact with him. DeKalb police assisted in the arrest, and officers took Palmer into custody.

Records show Palmer has a history of domestic violence in DeKalb and Kane counties, including felony domestic battery and drug convictions.

He was convicted in 2019 in DeKalb County for aggravated domestic battery causing strangulation after a 2018 incident in DeKalb. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation, including 180 days in jail for the conviction, related to a Nov. 20, 2018 incident during which he pushed a DeKalb woman onto a bed and choked her, cutting off her breathing on her neck until she lost consciousness.

In Kane County, Palmer was convicted in December 2013 of attempting to foil a drug screening test and sentenced to two years in Illinois prison. In August 2013, he was convicted of felony domestic battery and sentenced to two years in prison. In October 2012, he was found convicted of felony aggravated battery and sentenced to two months in jail and two years probation. And in February 2021, he was sentenced in Kane County to 18 months probation for a misdemeanor domestic battery conviction.

Palmer also is the subject of several ongoing court hearings in DeKalb, records show, including Oct. 12, 2021 charges of misdemeanor battery. He’s charged with felony drug possession, manufacturing more than 30 but less than 500 grams of cannabis from cases in April and February of 2021. And on Nov. 12, 2020, he was charged with felony aggravated domestic battery.

A DeKalb County judge will rule on the motion to deny bail for Palmer at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the same time Palmer is set to appear for status hearings on his other DeKalb County cases.