A Chicago man was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a fellow halfway house resident because the victim was gay, Cook County prosecutors said. Judge Barbara Dawkins sentenced Timothy House, 33, to 18 years after he pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder. She gave him a three-year term for hate crimes.
The attack occurred on Dec. 22, 2025, at a halfway house in the 10400 block of South Wabash Avenue, about a month after House was paroled from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for criminal assault and aggravated domestic violence convictions. Prosecutors said the 55-year-old victim lived across the street from House, the two had spoken regularly, including about religion, and the victim had told House he was gay.
Shortly before 10 p.m., House entered the victim’s room and asked to use his phone. When the victim refused, House left briefly, stopped in the hallway to grab a knife from a kitchen, then returned to the room and began stabbing and punching the man in the head and body with the knife and his fists. Prosecutors say the knife broke off during the attack and House picked it up and continued to use it on the victim.
When a witness entered the room, House ended the attack, hugged the witness, told him he loved him, then went downstairs, grabbed his prayer mat and left. Both the victim and witness called 911. Officers found House a few blocks away, his clothes still covered in blood, prosecutors say. The victim suffered two stab wounds to the head, a wound to the neck and a laceration to the shoulder, but survived.
When officers asked House what happened, he reportedly said he had committed “a terrorist attack” and asked if there was “a lot of blood there.” After being read his Miranda rights, House asked if the victim was dead. He admitted stabbing him in the head and said he attacked him because the victim was gay and “not a Christian,” prosecutors said. House also allegedly told police that he had tried to cut off the victim’s head and that he “didn’t regret it.”
“This defendant targeted another individual because of who he was and attempted to take his life,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a statement Thursday. “Hate-fueled violence causes lasting damage to both victims and communities.”
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