A woman who initially claimed an intruder shot her and her husband on their property in near Wonder Lake admitted Tuesday that she fired on her husband and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Aneta Marsek, 46, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery involving a discharged firearm, a Class X felony, according to a judgment order in the McHenry County court.

She was accused of shooting her husband Dan Marsek during the morning of Oct. 10, 2024, in a building on their property and then hiding the firearm underneath a mattress. She initially reported that “an unknown intruder shot” her and her husband, court records show.

When police arrived, they found Dan Marsek had “sustained a serious gunshot wound, while Aneta Marsek was observed with a superficial injury,” prosecutors said in a news release issued Tuesday after the hearing.

Dan Marsek has had multiple surgeries but has recovered, prosecutors said.

“The victim immediately reported that he had been shot by Aneta Marsek, while she claimed that both she and her husband had been shot by an unknown intruder. Both parties were transported to area hospitals,” prosecutors said. “An exhaustive investigation led to the recovery of the gun that had been hidden by Aneta Marsek following the incident. Further forensic testing revealed conclusively that Aneta Marsek was the lone shooter and that her injury was the result of her being disarmed by the victim.”

Marsek is required to serve 85% of her prison term followed by three years of mandatory supervised release. She is receiving credit for 416 days in the county jail since her arrest, the judgment order said.

In exchange for her guilty plea additional charges were dismissed, including attempted first-degree murder, aggravated domestic and obstructing justice, records show.

She and her husband owned Antique Cruisers Inc. which they operated out of their home, records show.

In October 2012, Aneta Marsek was the subject of a missing-person report. In a case that gained attention from national news outlets, Marsek and her two children were reported missing from Volo by Dan Marsek, who was described at the time as her estranged husband, according to a Northwest Herald report.

Lake County authorities conducted ground and aerial searches for Marsek and her children, and a dive team searched retention ponds near her home. But about a week after Dan Marsek last reported seeing her, she was found “unharmed and vacationing in the [Wisconsin] Dells,” according to a Lake County Sheriff’s news release at the time.

When Marsek made her first court appearance, judge Christopher Harmon referred to the state’s proffer detailing the 2012 incident, noting that given the “nationwide manhunt involving herself and her children ... there are no conditions or combination of conditions that can mitigate the defendant’s high likelihood of willful flight.”

In the news release announcing Marsek’s plea deal, McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese commended the work of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, particularly Det. Michael Quick. Freese also cited the victim’s “steadfast cooperation and continued candor during this traumatic time that allowed law enforcement to expose the truth and ensure accountability and as well as a just resolution to this significant matter.”

This case was successfully prosecuted by Chief of Staff Ashley Romito.