NIU students Chris Schubert and his girlfriend Linsey Wypych did not know they would be fighting for their lives one morning.

The last thing they expected at 5 a.m. June 23, 2003, was to have a man break in to Schubert’s apartment with several different-sized knives attached to his body, a dowel rod in one hand and a B.B. gun in the other.

Now, more than two and a half years later, Wesley Able, the alleged perpetrator, has yet to go to trial.

Today, the couple’s lives almost have returned to normal. Scars and memories should be the only reminder Schubert and Wypych have of the worst night of their lives. However, it is not.

“His mom calls us with updates on what is happening,” Wypych said. “As long as he is in jail now, it’s not too bad. But it’s a hassle trying to go to school and deal with all of this. We wish it was over so we don’t have to worry about it anymore and we could move on.”

Able switched lawyers several times, attempted to lower his bond, briefly represented himself and rejected a plea bargain.

On that summer morning, Schubert, now a senior political science major, left the living room window open all night at his Suburban Estates apartment. The window later became the entry point for the unexpected visitor.

When Wypych, now a senior sociology major, saw a man standing in the bedroom door frame, she initially thought it was Schubert’s roommate.

“It only took a couple seconds to realize he wasn’t saying anything and something was weird,” she said.

As Schubert and Wypych began to get out of bed, the man approached them and bludgeoned Schubert on the head with a dowel rod.

As Schubert regained himself, he struggled the gun loose from the stranger’s left hand. Wypych began to strike the man with the rod and Schubert pistol-whipped him over the head. The invader then pulled out a large knife, which Schubert described as a “Rambo knife.”

Schubert then shoved the man into the hallway and started smacking his head against the wall.

“I guess I was being stabbed the whole time I was hitting him,” he said. “But I didn’t realize it until later.”

Wypych said she recalls searching for their cellular phone and turning the lights on.

“I ran out and was pounding on neighbor’s doors … When I went back in, there was blood everywhere and Chris was yelling for me to get out,” she said.

After a struggle, Schubert attempted to run out of the apartment, but his knee, which had been hit, gave out. He fell in the grass just outside of the front door. The invader ran off. This is when Wypych noticed Schubert had been gutted and his intestines were lying in the grass.

“I tried pushing [his intestines] back in, and ran to grab towels to press on all his stab wounds,” Wypych said. “By then, the upstairs neighbor had come out and was helping.”

Luckily for Schubert and Wypych, a man who was sleeping in his van in the parking lot witnessed everything and took it upon himself to pursue the attacker by foot. The stranger followed the attacker and then returned to Schubert’s apartment to inform police of where he was hiding.

The police apprehended Able, who gave a written and video-taped confession. Able was charged with two counts of home invasion, attempted murder and intent to injury, which used to be referred to as malice.

Schubert was hospitalized with 13 stab wounds and received stitches in his intestines, along with three surgeries and eight months of rehabilitation.

The matter is out of Chris Schubert and Linsey Wypych’s hands now. Like other victims in the county, they await the day when the court system will finalize this chapter of their lives.

“We could do a civil suit,” Schubert said. “But we wouldn’t get anything out of it. We are trying to finish school and move on.”