‘Make them feel like they are going to die’: 3rd man accused in kidnapping, torture of car dealership employees in Des Plaines
DES PLAINES, Ill. — Charges have been filed against a man accused in the kidnapping, assault and torture of three employees from a Des Plaines car dealership back in early 2023.
According to Des Plaines police, 33-year-old Eric Grens, a Woodstock resident, has been charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated battery.
The charges stem from the suspect’s alleged role in the kidnapping and violent torture of a group of employees who worked at a car dealership in the 600 block of East Northwest Highway in Des Plaines.
Read more: Latest Chicago news headline
Officers say investigators were later able to determine that Grens was allegedly a “significant participant in the crimes” that unfolded on Feb. 10, 2023, which continued into the morning hours the next day.
Police said Grens is the third person to face charges in connection with the violent attack.
On Feb. 16, 2023, 24-year-old George Athanasakos, a Wood Dale resident, was charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping and three counts of armed robbery.
27-year-old, Brandon Bratcher, a Hanover Park resident, was arrested on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, and charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of armed robbery, and one count of residential burglary.
Officers said during the alleged incident, on Feb. 10, 2023, the men, who were armed with rifles and handguns, tied the employees up, robbed them, and took them to different locations where they were beaten, burned with a hot metal object, and restrained overnight.
LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland
Police said after the victims were dropped off at the dealership the next morning, the suspects then allegedly demanded money from them under the threat of violence.
After the first round of charges was announced last year, police said that two of the victims were owners of the dealership and the third victim was an employee.
Authorities say, through phone forensics, investigators uncovered communications with a co-defendant and found that Grens allegedly coordinated the kidnappings and instructed the co-defendant to take the victims to his home in Woodstock.
Police said Grens allegedly told the same co-defendant to “knock the victims’ teeth out and make them feel like they are going to die.”
Man fatally shot, officer injured in shootout on West Side ID’d
Throughout the uncovered communications, authorities said Grens also allegedly said that the victims should have been forced to sign over the titles of the vehicles associated with the business.
Des Plaines police executed a search warrant at Grens’ Woodstock home, on Feb. 20, 2023, about 10 days after the alleged attack, and uncovered physical evidence that allegedly placed the victims at the home and confirmed that had been beaten in the early morning hours on Feb. 11, 2023.
Authorities eventually caught up with Grens on Wednesday and he was taken into custody in a parking lot in the 200 block of North Randall Road in Lake in the Hills.
Grens appeared in court on Friday for a detention hearing.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
