A Stillman Valley man has been found guilty of killing his ex-wife in 2016 and then setting her Byron home on fire, killing their 3-year-old son who was asleep in his upstairs bedroom.

Duane “DC” Meyer, 43, of Stillman Valley was found guilty of killing Maggie (Rosko) Meyer, 31, and their 3-year-old son, Amos, on Oct. 19, 2016.

After deliberating well into Thursday evening, jurors found Meyer guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated arson and one count of concealment of a homicidal death – all in connection with their deaths.

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.

Her charred body was found on a couch in her living room Oct. 19, 2016.

Pathologists determined that her death was “highly suspicious for homicide,” testifying she was strangled to death before the fire spread upstairs and killed Amos from carbon monoxide poisoning, as evidenced by soot in his airway and lungs.

No soot was found in Maggie’s airway or lungs, but pathologists said there were signs of strangulation and “some type of blunt force trauma” on other parts of her body.

They said they could not determine an exact cause of death because the condition of her severely charred body – with no distinguishing features remaining – could have masked other injuries that made the forensic case challenging.

Prosecutors argued that Meyer strangled Maggie to death and set her on fire in her home to clear the way for him to pursue a new life with his girlfriend.

They told jurors that Amos – who was asleep in his upstairs bedroom in his Halloween pajamas – was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the smoldering early-morning fire.

Prosecutors argued that text message exchanges between Meyer and his girlfriend, Catherine Mearns – extracted from their phones by investigators and analyzed by FBI agents – showed that DC was “obsessed” with Mearns, “hated” Maggie, and promised to “eliminate” Maggie and Amos from his life.

Defense attorneys argued that Meyer was innocent and police unfairly targeted him instead of trying to find out who really was responsible for the deaths of Maggie and Amos.

They said text messages between Meyer and Mearns about Maggie and her family that were sent before their deaths were “cherry-picked” by prosecutors and taken out of context.

Jurors resumed deliberating at 9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, but did not reach their decision until 8:48 p.m. – 11 hours after they began their fourth day of deliberations following eight days of testimony.

After the verdicts were delivered, Meyer was remanded to the Ogle County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest Oct. 9, 2019.

He is scheduled to appear in court again for a status hearing at 2 p.m. March 13.