McHenry County’s biggest stories of 2023, from the Woodstock blast to the DCFS trial to the E. coli outbreak

Eventful, it certainly was.

The year 2023 brought losses and victories and plenty of news that was sometimes heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest stories of the year in the McHenry County area.

Car crashes into Crystal Lake restaurant

On March 23, four people were hospitalized after a car smashed into Wings and Rings in Crystal Lake. The injured included the drummer of the popular local band Modern Day Romeos, whose wife credited him with pushing her out of harm’s way.

The drummer made his return to the stage later in the year, but a lawsuit was pending.

Other incidents involving cars and buildings included a vehicle crashing into a McHenry Starbucks in October.

Challengers win control of Huntley school board, and other local election results

The April 4 local elections were relatively quiet without major contests over mayoral control of local governments (although Crystal Lake Mayor Haig Haleblian won as an unopposed write-in candidate).

As for referendums, Bull Valley and Lakemoor both rejected home rule, while Harvard said yes to a local sales tax, and Algonquin Township voters gave approval to set up a garbage collection service.

It was local school board races that in some cases were the most competitive, with Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47, for example, electing three newcomers and only one incumbent.

But arguably the election result with the biggest influence was for the Huntley School District 158 Board, for which a slate of four challengers – some who had been active in protesting COVID-19 restrictions such as mask mandates – beat four incumbents to secure a majority on the board.

Four die in shooting in a home near Crystal Lake

On Aug. 9, four family members were found shot to death inside their Crystal Lake-area home, while a fifth person was injured but survived.

Authorities identified the dead as a man and three women: Jean Song, 44; Lauren Smith-Song, 32; Chang Song, 73; and Yuna Song, 49.

But they have said little about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, except to call Jean Song the “aggressor.” He was the owner of a gun holster company.

Cash bail ends in Illinois, McHenry County

A new era in criminal justice began Sept. 18, when – as a result of wide-ranging changes enacted by state lawmakers known as the SAFE-T Act – those charged with criminal offenses could no longer be held in jail pretrial solely because of their inability to post a cash bail.

The end of cash bail in Illinois – something strongly opposed by many in law enforcement, including McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally – meant that defendants either could be released with conditions and monitoring or held in jail while they await the resolution of their cases, but they no longer could have bonds set.

Aside from the procedural and financial changes at the courthouse and county jail that this prompted, there also were grave concerns that it would mean dangerous criminals would be more likely to be let out.

And although there have been instances of defendants allegedly reoffending after they’re released, so far, the law appears to cut both ways, with other defendants being held in jail who seem likely to have been bailed out and released under the old system.

Huntley High students sickened by E. coli

On Sept. 21, just weeks into the new school year and during homecoming week, Huntley High School officials confirmed that five students had been sickened by the bacteria E. coli. By the end of the day, the number was at six, and within days it was up to nine, with the school reporting that symptoms typically included bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps.

Three months later, a report from county health officials revealed that the outbreak was more serious than previously known publicly: The number of cases connected to the school was not nine but 16, including two students who had to be hospitalized.

The report also confirmed that the school cafeteria likely was the source of the spread.

Couple dies in Fox River boat crash

Avid boaters Tim and Julie Mertins died Sept. 30 when their watercraft hit an embankment on the Fox River near McHenry, flipped over and landed in a yard not far from their own waterfront home. Residents had rushed to the scene to try to help the couple, who were described as kind-hearted and giving.

Explosion rips through Woodstock neighborhood

About 20 buildings were damaged – including a church, as well as two homes that were completely destroyed – when an explosion rocked Woodstock the morning of Oct. 9.

The blast shook the ground in the area near downtown, caused a large boom and sent a plume of smoke into the air that could be heard and seen from the historic Woodstock Square.

However, the incident remarkably caused no deaths or serious injuries. Crews were working to contain a gas leak when the explosion occurred, and the city and survivors still are dealing with its aftermath.

DCFS worker found guilty for failures before AJ Freund’s murder

The 2019 death of Crystal Lake 5-year-old AJ Freund continued to reverberate in 2023 in a big way, and no more so than on Oct. 13.

That was the day when his child protection specialist, Carlos Acosta, was found guilty of failing to intervene before the boy was killed by his mother and his remains concealed by his father, despite the fact that unusual wounds were found on AJ by a doctor, that his mother continued to abuse drugs, and that their home was filthy and chaotic.

Acosta’s supervisor, who also was charged, was acquitted in the case.

Acosta, a Woodstock resident who was a McHenry County Board member at the time of AJ’s death, appealed his conviction in December and still awaits sentencing. The decision to level criminal charges in the case was unusual and controversial.

Construction begins on major redevelopment in Crystal Lake

The long-struggling Crystal Court shopping center off Route 14 in Crystal Lake bid its final goodbye, with an Oct. 18 groundbreaking for Water’s Edge, a 30-acre redevelopment that will bring 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant spaces, open public areas and 260 housing units to the site.

It’s the largest development project in Crystal Lake and is expected to cost about $75 million.

Ex-business owner accused of stealing $1.9 million from an elderly relative

Authorities announced Nov. 1 that a Barrington man and former business owner, Douglas Boncosky, had been charged with stealing about $1.9 million from an elderly relative in Cary. His theft and identify theft case still is pending.

Johnsburg man holds police at bay for 9 hours, then dies in jail

On Nov. 14, Timothy Mumford, a 74-year-old Johnsburg man with a long history of mental illness, shot off a gun inside his house with his wife present and engaged in a standoff with police for nine hours – prompting the closing of local schools – before he was removed by the county sheriff’s SWAT team and arrested.

Mumford later refused to come out of his jail cell for his court hearings, and on Dec. 5, he was found dead in the jail.

Pot’s growing retail footprint

McHenry County started the year with one marijuana dispensary and ended with six.

Joining Lake in the Hills’ cannabis joint were Crystal Lake’s first dispensary, which opened in February, and its second, which debuted in December, the same week McHenry welcomed its first pot emporium.

In between, new dispensaries premiered in Richmond and Cary.

Deaths of county jail inmates

Four people who were being detained at the McHenry County jail in Woodstock died in 2023, including three within a three-week period from November to December.

That prompted Sheriff Robb Tadelman to release a statement in December saying his office “empathizes with member of our community and the families affected by these losses” and vowing transparency.

Carpentersville teen goes missing

Brissa Romero, a 17-year-old from Carpentersville who worked at a Crystal Lake restaurant, was reported missing in December after failing to show up for a work holiday party in Lake County.

Local police and even the Department of Homeland Security got involved in a search for the girl. But on Dec. 12, remains were found in a pond where her submerged car had been recovered, and the next day, they were identified as the missing teen.

Typo not enough to get County Board candidate bounced from ballot

In December, McHenry County Board member Eric Hendricks tried to get his March 2024 Republican primary opponent Bob Nowak knocked off the ballot because of a missing “C.” Nowak left the letter off the word “Republican” in his nominating petitions and also placed a ZIP code in the wrong box.

But the county’s election board ruled Dec. 19 that Nowak can remain on the ballot, although Hendricks was considering an appeal. If Nowak prevails, it will be a rematch, as Hendricks beat Nowak to get on the board in the first place.

Judge halts suspensions of Marian Central wrestler, coach

Days after the IHSA suspended Marian Central wrestling co-coach Jordan Blanton and freshman student-athlete Jimmy Mastny over eligibility and recruitment issues, a McHenry County judge issued a temporary injunction to halt the punishments while the case is adjudicated.

On Dec. 21, Mastny’s supporters gathered in the Woodstock courtroom and over Zoom as lawyers argued why he should or shouldn’t be allowed to wrestle after moving into his coach’s mother’s house from his home about 60 miles away in Oregon, Illinois, so he could attend the Woodstock Catholic school.

Busloads of migrants arrive at suburban train stations

As Chicago began to crack down on buses that offload migrants from the southern border, those buses started showing up in late December in suburban train station such as Fox River Grove’s.

That prompted communities along the Metra lines, including McHenry and Woodstock, to hastily take up new ordinances to try to discourage buses from dropping off asylum-seekers in their towns. Most of the migrants were directed to trains into Chicago.