Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday for a Stillman Valley man charged with killing his ex-wife in 2016 and setting her home on fire, with their 3-year-old son inside.

Duane Meyer, 43, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated arson and one count of concealment of a homicidal death in connection with an Oct. 19, 2016, Byron house fire in which his ex-wife, Margaret “Maggie” (Rosko) Meyer, 31, was found dead.

The couple’s 3-year-old son, Amos Meyer, who also was home at the time of the fire, was later pronounced dead at a Rockford hospital.

Meyer has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and has been held in the Ogle County Jail since his arrest on Oct. 9, 2019.

An effort by Meyer’s attorney, Christopher DeRango of Rockford, to postpone the January trial date was rejected by Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe on Friday, Jan. 2.

DeRango filed a motion to continue on Wednesday, Dec. 31 and asked Roe at a status hearing to move the trial date due to the defense’s inability to locate a former forensic scientist who had worked for the Illinois State Police and has since retired.

DeRango argued that James Ercoli examined forensic materials from the home and that his testimony would be “material” to Meyer’s defense. He told Roe the defense did not know Ercoli had retired until they attempted to serve him with a subpoena on Dec. 18, 2025. He said attempts to serve Ercoli had been unsuccessful despite efforts and coordination with the crime lab in Joliet.

Ogle County State’s Attorney Matthew Leisten argued against the continuance, telling Roe that the state would stipulate to the 2016 crime lab reports which would allow them to be presented to the jury as evidence.

DeRango said he was unwilling to accept the state’s stipulation arguing that Ercoli’s live testimony would be essential to Meyer’s defense.

In arguing against the continuance, Leisten said the victim’s family has a right to a timely trial and had been waiting since 2019 for the trial to start. He also questioned why the defense waited until mid-December to issue the subpoena if Ercoli’s testimony was critical to their case.

DeRango said witnesses tend to forget if subpoenas are issued too far in advance of a trial.

Roe said he would continue the motion hearing to Friday to give the defense two more days to try to contact Ercoli.

On Friday, DeRango said Ecroli had yet to be served, arguing again for a continuance. “We’ve still not heard from him,” DeRango told Roe.

Roe said he had considered all aspects of the case, reviewed case law and taken into account fairness to Meyer as well as the victim’s family.

“Given the totality of the circumstances I’m going to deny the motion to continue,” Roe said.

DeRango replied that Roe’s decision would “severely handicap” the defense’s case.

The jury trial had been originally scheduled for February 2025, but was delayed on a defense motion made by DeRango, who cited a heavy caseload as the reason for the continuance.

In previous hearings, DeRango and prosecutors have said numerous cellphone records and data also will be part of the evidence presented.

Maggie was a teacher at the Chana Education Center at the time of her death. She filed for divorce in 2014, and court records show the divorce was finalized in September 2016.

Prosecutors have argued that their evidence will show Meyer planned to end Maggie’s life.

The defense has argued that text messages sent by Meyer before the deaths were only part of a “contentious” divorce and not indicative of anything nefarious.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday morning at the Ogle County Judicial Center in Oregon.