A former middle school teacher who was confronted by his wife about his sexual “relationship” with a 14-year-old girl did what he saw was his only option: he slit her throat, then read Bible verses to her out loud as she bled.

To make matters worse, after James Chelekis read from his holy book of divinely inspired ethics, he called the middle school girl whom he had been sexually assaulting for a year. It was that child who convinced him to call 911.

The middle schooler was the one who talked him into calling 911, 55 minutes after the attack. “He came out of the closet behind me, my head was tipped back resting on the back of the chair with my eyes closed. Standing behind me, he kissed my forehead and slit my throat from one side to the other,” said the former Amanda Chelekis, who has divorced the man who tried to kill her. She now goes by another last name but preferred to be referred to by her first name only. She said that it was her training as a nurse that allowed her to position her head so that the blood did not fill her airways. She permanently injured her hands struggling for the knife.

Amanda is alive today because of her professional training and because a middle school girl convinced her abuser to report his crime to the police. God was nowhere to be found… though His name came out of the mouth of the attacker.

Chelekis pleaded guilty to attempted murder and two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against a child, but that wasn’t the end of his abusive behavior. He actually continued to contact the young girl he sexually assaulted earlier.

“Someday when it is developmentally appropriate, I have to tell (my children) their father is not with us because he tried to kill me,” Amanda said as her husband wept a few feet away. Her husband had been having sex with a 14-year-old girl for the better part of a year. Even after he was arrested and jailed, Chelekis continued to contact his child victim. The girl’s mother wrote a letter read by Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Monica Janiskee, in which the mom said the teacher befriended the girl and her family, would pray with them and even promised to marry the girl who would sometimes babysit his children.

It seems like the Bible is a pretty consistent theme in Chelekis’ life, yet he did not live like someone who was inspired by God to serve his fellow man. Instead, he used religion to gain the trust of his victim and her family and to justify the attempted murder of his then-wife.

If there is any silver lining here, it’s that he’ll be in prison for a long time. He was sentenced to anywhere between 30 and 60 years in prison as a result of his many crimes. It won’t make his victims’ lives go back to normal, but at least he won’t be able to hurt anyone else.

