Defense attorney asks for continuance, says he’s hired private investigator in Rochelle homicide case

OREGON – The attorney for a Palatine man accused of fatally stabbing a Rochelle woman and then setting her apartment on fire in September 2022 told an Ogle County judge Wednesday that more time is needed to seek additional information for his client.

“We did employ a private investigator and we have served some individuals and corporations with subpoenas,” said Robert Kerr, the attorney for Gary C. Freeman, 29. “I am asking for a continuance to review all that material.”

Freeman has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, one count of residential arson and one count of concealment of a homicide. He is charged in connection with the death of Devin K. Gibbons, 28, of Rochelle.

He has been held at the Ogle County Correctional Center on $10 million bond since his February 2023 arrest.

He appeared in Ogle County court Wednesday with Kerr attending via video conference and Judge John Redington presiding. Assistant State’s Attorney Allison Huntley represented the state.

Kerr told Redington he was also seeking information from surveillance cameras.

Huntley did not object to the continuance, and Redington set the next court date for 1 p.m. May 29.

In a previous court hearing, Kerr said he has received discovery documents provided by prosecutors but needed more time to review the state’s evidence, which included “over 2,500 pages.”

Gibbons was found dead in her Rochelle apartment, 503 Seventh Ave., after Rochelle police and firefighters were dispatched to that address at 10:46 a.m. Sept. 18, 2022, for a smoke investigation, according to a joint news release from the Rochelle Police Department and Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock.

“Upon entry into the residence, fire personnel located a deceased female,” according to the release. “The fire was deemed suspicious, and additional investigators arrived on-scene.”

Freeman became a suspect during the course of the investigation, according to the release.

An Ogle County grand jury in February 2023 indicted Freeman. An arrest warrant was issued Feb. 28, 2023, and he was apprehended in Palatine.

The first-degree murder charges, Class M felonies, allege that Freeman “knowingly stabbed” Gibbons “with the intent to kill her or do great bodily harm” and that the “murder was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner, pursuant to a preconceived plan, scheme or design.”

The concealment of a homicidal death indictment, a Class 3 felony, alleged that Freeman knew Gibbons “had died by homicidal means” and “knowingly concealed” her death by leaving her body inside her apartment and then starting the fire. The residential arson charge is a Class 1 felony.

At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said many agencies worked on the investigation, including the Rochelle Police Department, the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, the State Fire Marshal’s Office, the American Red Cross, Illinois State Police crime scene investigators, the Ogle County Coroner’s Office, the Ogle-Lee Fire Protection District, the FBI Rockford and Chicago offices, the Schaumburg Police Department, the Palatine Police Department, the Sterling Police Department and the Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center.