A woman sobbed on the witness stand Thursday and said, “He ruined my life,” as she described how Raymond Paul Link – a stranger to her – beat her nearly to death in a McHenry Park on a Sunday afternoon in 2024.

Her testimony was heard during the first day of 49-year-old Link’s trial on charges of first-degree attempted murder and aggravated battery.

In a brief opening statement Link’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Matthew Feda, told Judge Tiffany Davis, who is hearing the case rather than a jury, that Link is not guilty by reason of insanity.

But Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito said Link, who claims he heard orders to kill someone that day, “made a specific choice to attack her.”

Romito asked that Davis find Link guilty but mentally ill.

The difference is that if he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would go to a mental institution. If found guilty but mentally ill, he would go to prison, where he could receive treatment for his mental health.

The victim, a 61-year-old woman who required another person to help her make her way to the witness stand, said she was walking her son’s dog on a leash in Petersen Park at about 3:30 p.m. May 5, 2024. It is a place that she “loved” and where she often walked or ran, sometimes with her husband. On this day, she was alone with the dog.

The last thing she remembers is sending a friend a congratulatory message about a work achievement, using the talk to text mode on her phone. She didn’t remember waking up in the hospital or the rehabilitation facility that followed, among other moments lost.

Link stomped with his foot and knees on the woman’s head multiple times, a bystander who tried to intervene and called 911 testified Thursday.

The woman said she’s suffered brain damage, lost her eye and has had therapy to help with her speech and memory. She said she can no longer work at a job she “loved.”

“He ruined my life,” she said sobbing. “He tried to kill me and he beat me up so bad” adding that her “jaw is still messed up.”

The bystander, a 39-year-old man who was at the park that day with his wife and two small children, said he heard a scream that sounded like someone was saying, “My life is in danger.”

He ran toward the scream and saw Link “leaping and jumping” with his knees down on the woman’s head. He remembers saying, “Get away from her, get away. Oh my god.”

He called 911 as he tried to keep Link off of the woman, who was on the ground bleeding. He also tried to fight off Link’s dog, which was unchained and had been running loose in the park. He said Link was commanding the dog to attack him.

Audio of the 911 call was played during the man’s testimony. He is heard telling the dispatcher to send help as he was trying to figure out where in the park he was and keep Link away from the woman. Link’s dog also is heard barking.

The man, who also suffered serious injuries, told the 911 dispatcher: “A man is trying to kill this woman. He’s trying to kill this woman.”

Police officers who responded to the scene described seeing the woman on the ground, unconscious, with lacerations and her face covered in blood. At first they were not sure if she was still alive, one officer said.

Former McHenry Police Officer Daniel Lincicum, the first to arrive, said he grabbed Link off the woman and handcuffed him. He said Link’s face, knees and hands were covered in blood and he was screaming, “I am the angel of death.”

In the squad car, Link was “erratic,” screaming and threatening the officer that he was going to “carve” the officer and his family alive. He said he was going to “consume his spark and play back his life like a memory.”

Video of a police interview also was played in court Thursday. In it, Link is screaming and saying he is the “angel of death” and that he tried to kill the woman because “mother” in the clouds told him to. He said he had a choice of killing her or a family that he also saw in the park with a child. He hollered bizarre statements about God, Saturn, Pluto, “mother in the clouds” and death. He said dogs are God.

He also screamed obscenities at the officers, threatened to kill them and told them they were not real but “mud monkeys,” chimpanzees and AI.

In the video, Link also admitted to attacking the woman but said he had no choice because he was told to do so.

“With my bare hands I beat her like the dirty mud monkey she is,” he said.

The trial is now on recess until Feb. 20.