Woman convicted in killing of Algonquin couple thwarted in effort to overturn plea, 55-year prison term

A McHenry County judge denied Friday a request by a woman serving a 55-year prison term in connection with the stabbing deaths of an Algonquin couple to withdraw her plea and vacate her sentence.

In a handwritten petition, Arin Fox, 42, said she was coerced and not competent in October when she pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the murder of Noreen Gilard, 69.

Fox was accused of killing Noreen Gilard and Leonard Gilard, 73, the parents of the man she was dating at the time and with whom she was living, according to court testimony and McHenry County court records.

Judge Mark Gerhardt denied her petition, stating it was out of jurisdiction, meaning the petition was filed after the allotted time of 30 days of sentencing, according to the judge’s order filed Friday.

The couple was found dead from stab wounds Nov. 8, 2020, in separate bedrooms of their house. A long-blade butcher knife was found in a drying rack in the kitchen sink. Although the knife appeared to be washed, blood was found between the blade and the handle, former Algonquin Police Department detective Amy Bucci said during the sentencing hearing.

Leonard Gilard was stabbed more than 50 times, Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito said at the hearing.

In the affadavit, Fox asked for the judge to vacate her sentence and order a new trial.

She claimed she was not on her appropriate court-ordered medicines when she signed the plea agreement, and she thought she was going to be sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Fox further asserted that when first transferred to the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, she thought she was at a mental health facility in Elgin, where she believed she would be serving her sentence.