Woman charged in connection with son’s death in Richmond Township sentenced to prison in unrelated case

A mother charged in connection with the death of her 14-year-old son in a Richmond Township home in January had her probation on an unrelated aggravated battery case revoked Thursday.

Cara Ullrich, 45, was resentenced to four years in prison for violating probation on the 2021 case by not reporting to probation services, according to the revocation petition filed in the McHenry County court. She is required to serve half of the prison term. When she is released, she will be on six months of mandatory supervised release. She will get credit for 143 days spent in the county jail, according to the sentencing order.

In that 2021 case, Ullrich was accused of using a silver blade knife and slashing the stomach of a relative “multiple times,” the complaint said.

Ullrich has been held in the county jail on warrants since being arrested in January. She was captured by police after authorities said she hid in a bathtub in her former husband’s home as paramedics attempted to revive her son.

In connection with her son’s death, Cara Ullrich is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, which are Class 4 felonies, and endangering the life or health of a minor, Class A misdemeanors, according to the criminal complaint filed in the courthouse.

At her detention hearing last month Assistant State’s Attorney Tyler Mikan said police found baggies with powdery substances that tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl at her former husband’s home, where the teen and a 13-year-old sibling lived, and where the 14-year-old was found unresponsive. The results of an autopsy for the boy, who has not been named by authorities, are still pending.

Ullrich’s former husband, Eric Ullrich, 51, was arrested and charged in connection with his son’s death just days after Cara Ullrich was charged. Eric Ullrich is charged with possession of controlled substance, a Class 4 felony, as well as endangering the health or life of a child, a misdemeanor, according to a criminal complaint.

Eric Ullrich is accused of illegally possessing less than 15 grams of a substance containing cocaine. He also is accused of permitting the 14-year-old boy to be in circumstances endangering his life and health when Ullrich suspected the boy “to be under the influence of heroin/fentanyl and did not seek medical care,” the criminal complaint said.

On Thursday, Cara Ullrich also was arraigned on the new charges and pleaded not guilty. She is due back in court April 4. Because Eric Ullrich’s charges are not considered detainable under the SAFE-T Act he was released pretrial shortly after his arrest. He is due back in court March 26.