Keith Randulich, 19, Pleads Guilty To Brutal Murder Of 4-Year-Old Half-Sister

Prosecutors are seeking life in prison for Keith Randulich, the 19-year-old Mokena, Illinois man who pled guilty this morning to the brutal murder of his young half-sister.

Sabrina Clement, 4, was found with numerous stab wounds to the neck in the basement of their home, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. Randulich confessed to killing her with a steak knife.

When authorities investigated the basement, they found a collection of horror films, death-metal music, a rubber clown mask and what the Chicago Tribune described at the time as "disturbing writings."

At the time of the murder, Randulich's parents and his 14-year-old brother had left the house for a school function. His 16-year-old brother was upstairs playing a wrestling video game, and didn't know anything had happened until he saw police lights in his bedroom window.

Randulich told police he killed Clement to protect her from someone who was abusing her. But according to today's Tribune story, the coroner found no evidence that the girl was abused.

"This was a crime of unspeakable cruelty and horror," said Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, in a press release about the case. "One cannot begin to fathom what would prompt a young man to commit such an atrocity against his little sister."

The minimum sentence for the crime is 20 years in prison, but prosecutors are seeking a life sentence without parole for Randulich because of the exceptionally brutal nature of the murder.

His sentencing will take place on January 25.