A Clarendon Hills man accused of sexually assaulting and murdering his young daughter in 2006 was sentenced to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill in DuPage County circuit court Thursday, April 16.

Neil Lofquist, 44, had been accused of sexually abusing Lauren, 8, on two occasions before he strangled, stabbed and drowned her in the toilet inside the family’s home at about 8 p.m. March 26 in the 100 block of Chicago Avenue. Neil Lofquist’s wife, Lisa, and young son were downstairs watching television at the time of the murder, Clarendon Hills police said.

Neil Lofquist had originally plead not guilty to 21 counts of first-degree murder and two counts of predatory sexual assault. The predatory sexual assault charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement, said Paul Darrah, spokesman for the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office.

“But Neil Lofquist will be required to serve 100 percent of his sentence,” Darrah said.

Defense attorneys pleaded Neil Lofquist was mentally ill at the time he killed Lauren. Prosecutors sought the death penalty in the case.

Following the crime, Neil Lofquist gave a 14-hour statement to police investigators in which he claimed his daughter was evil and needed “to die to save everyone else in the world,” prosecutors said.

After the attack, Neil Lofquist wandered outside, where police said he began talking to a neighbor on Chicago Avenue. The neighbor called Lisa Lofquist and said her husband had been speaking in nonsensical babble, according to police.

After he returned to the home, Lisa and Neil Lofquist and their son went to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, police said. Although Neil Lofquist had a cut in his finger, police said he went to the hospital more for his mental health than physical injury. A neighbor was asked to baby-sit Lauren, police said.

Upon arrival, police said Neil Lofquist told hospital staff his daughter was the devil and the world would end if she did not die. Emergency responders then found the neighbor trying to resuscitate the girl’s lifeless body in the bathroom at about 10 p.m. She was rushed to the same hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

An autopsy concluded Lauren died of asphyxiation and drowning. She also had been stabbed in the neck.

While being held in the DuPage County jail in 2006, Neil Lofquist climbed to the top of a weight machine and jumped head first in an attempted suicide, authorities said. He received treatment for head and neck injuries at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, authorities said.

Lisa Lofquist divorced her husband in late 2006. The divorce, which was granted by the DuPage County Judge Elizabeth Sexton Dec. 4, stripped Neil Lofquist of any visitation and custody rights to the couple’s son and all of the family’s financial holdings.

In the divorce filing, Lisa Lofquist stated her husband was “guilty of extreme and repeated acts of mental cruelty,” and in the past Neil Lofquist had “dissipated and wasted assets” and would continue to do so for his exclusive benefit without seeking her approval.

Sexton granted Lisa Lofquist an order of protection in April that forbid her husband from contacting her or her son by phone.