Lanark woman shot, killed; husband facing first-degree murder charge

LANARK – A Freeport man is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, whose body was found around 2:15 Saturday morning in a home in the 200 block of West Locust Street.

Morgan D. Hake, 49, was arrested in Freeport by Freeport Police at 3 a.m., less than an hour after the body of Suzanne M. Hake, 46, was found, Carroll County Sheriff Jeff Doran said in a news release Saturday afternoon.

Hake is in Carroll County Jail pending a bond hearing today.

Carroll County deputies, responding to a 911 call about a shooting, found the body, the release said. Carroll County dispatch said no more information would be provided Saturday.

According to their Facebook pages, Suzanne 'Suzy" Hake was a social worker at Gaffey Home Nursing and Hospice, which is based in Sterling, since March. She formerly was the director of the social services department at the Stephenson Nursing Center in Freeport, staff there confirmed.

Morgan Hake is the owner of Hake's Hardwood Floor Co., 1884 W. Becker School Road in Freeport.

In December 2003, Hake was charged in Stephenson County Court with being a felon in possession of a weapon but pleaded guilty to an amended charge of obstructing justice by destroying evidence. He was sentenced to 30 months probation. Information on his previous felony conviction was not available.

This is the first homicide in this village of 1,400 since the late 1800s, said Mayor John Huggins, who also confirmed the two were still married.