An Elgin woman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the starvation and torture of a child in her care, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday in a news release.

Associate Judge Julia Yetter accepted the plea from Eulalia Vences, 55, today in court.

Vences pleaded guilty to aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, a Class X felony, the release stated, punishable by six to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Schmidt stated in court that between March 5, 2021, and March 5, 2024, live-in caretaker Vences and co-defendant Natali Cruz-Gemchi severely neglected and starved Cruz-Gemchi’s child.

“In my many years as a prosecutor, this is one of the most disturbing cases I have encountered,” Schmidt stated in the release. “For an adult to neglect, torture, and starve a child in their care, with such wanton disregard for the child’s well-being, is both unforgivable and horrendous.”

The child, at age 7 in March 2024, was brought to the emergency room of Prime Healthcare Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin for cardiac arrest and unresponsiveness, Schmidt had said in court.

“Doctors were able to stabilize the child but found the child’s weight to be only 14 pounds and their condition to be consistent with severe intentional physical torture, psychological torture, and medical neglect,” Schmidt had said in court. “Vences and Cruz-Gemchi were both charged with multiple counts of aggravated battery, Aggravated domestic battery and child endangerment.”

In accordance with Illinois law, Vences must serve at least 85% of the sentence. She receives credit for 596 days she has already served in the Kane County jail.

Natali Cruz-Gemchi’s case is still pending. She is currently detained at the jail, the release stated.

Court records show Cruz-Gemchi is to appear in court Jan. 21 for plea or setting of a trial date.

The child survived the abuse, but she will face longterm medical complications and lifelong psychiatric consequences as a result of what was done to her, Schmidt stated in the release.

“The defendant admitted her guilt and received a sentence that holds her accountable for her actions. She can now spend the next two decades reflecting on the harm she inflicted on an innocent child,” Schmidt stated in the release.

Schmidt thanked Kane County Child Advocacy Center Victim Advocate Silvia Cruz, Assistant State’s Attorneys Stacey Wittman and Jessica Michaels, Elgin police investigators – especially Detective David Lackey – and the medical professionals at Saint Joseph Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, whose expertise and dedication saved the child’s life.