Jury selection will continue Jan. 12 for a Stillman Valley man charged with killing his ex-wife in 2016 and setting her Byron home on fire with their 3-year-old son inside.

A total of 11 jurors have been selected to determine the fate of Duane Meyer, 43, who 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 was in an upstairs bedroom in the 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 Oct. 9, 2019.

Jury selection began Monday, Jan. 5, and continued through Thursday, Jan. 8, but was suspended when there were no more potential jurors left to question.

Four jurors were selected Monday, two on Tuesday, two on Wednesday and three on Thursday. A jury of 12 and four alternates are needed before arguments and testimony begins.

Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe told defense attorneys Christopher DeRango and Patrick Moore as well as Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock and his assistants, Matthew Leisten and Allison Huntley, on Thursday afternoon that another group of potential jurors – called a panel – would be summoned to appear Monday at the Ogle County Judicial Center in Oregon.

“We have exhausted our two panels completely,” Roe said.

Roe said his decision was based on a state statute that allowed Ogle County Circuit Clerk Kim Stahl to contact potential jurors and have the sheriff deliver summonses if needed.

“We will have that group come in Monday,” Roe told attorneys late Thursday afternoon.

Roe then informed the 11 jurors already chosen to serve that jury selection was taking longer than planned. He informed them they would be called back to the judicial center on Jan. 13 at which time the trial was expected to start.

He admonished them not to research or discuss the case with anyone, and to avoid media coverage and social media sites and comments about the case while they were serving as jurors.

After those jurors were dismissed, DeRango told Roe that he would be renewing his motion for a change of venue, based on the difficulty in securing jurors.

In January 2025, DeRango filed a motion to move the trial out of Ogle County, just three weeks before the jury trial was scheduled to start Feb. 3.

In that “change of place of trial” motion, DeRango argued that because of “heavy” media coverage of Meyer’s numerous pretrial hearings since 2016, Meyer “cannot obtain a fair trial in Ogle County, Illinois.” He also has claimed that derogatory comments on social media pages about his client are prejudicial.

A change of venue motion typically asks the judge to move the trial to a different location. Those motions usually cite reasons that the filing party believes would prevent a fair trial in the county in which the case was filed. Pretrial publicity often is listed as a reason for a change of venue motion.

A change of venue survey is one of the tools that can be used by defense attorneys before filing a motion for a change of venue.

DeRango said a survey, paid for by Meyer’s parents, asked Ogle County residents from December 2024 through January 2025 about the case. In that survey, DeRango said 34% of respondents recalled the fire and 59% had formed an opinion regarding the defendant’s guilt. He did not say how many people responded to the survey.

Rock and his assistants argued against the change of venue, calling the survey “flawed” and arguing that the trial should stay in Ogle County.

They argued that Meyer “will absolutely receive a fair trial” and that just because someone is aware of a pending case does not mean they have formed an opinion as to innocence or guilt.

Roe denied that motion for a change a venue in April 2025 and set a January 2026 trial date.

Outside of the courtroom Thursday, DeRango said the inability to secure a jury after four days of effort was a “huge concern”.

“I’ve been doing this for 34 years and I have never seen it take this long,” DeRango said.

He said he would argue details of his motion to continue on Jan. 12. Roe set that hearing for 9 a.m.

Selection process

During the jury selection process, Roe, along with and defense and prosecution attorneys, asked potential jurors a series of questions to determine each juror’s suitability to serve.

Roe has excused the majority of potential jurors for a variety of reasons, including hardship such as conflicts with the length of the trial, personal issues, health issues, and predisposition as to the trial’s outcome. The defense and prosecution have a limited number of excusals at their disposal.

The trial is expected to take 3 to 4 weeks. Attorneys had previously agreed to select four alternate jurors in addition to the 12-member jury due to the expected length of the trial.

In the event one of the 12 jurors could not continue to serve during the course of the trial, an alternate would replace them.

Alternate jurors listen to all the testimony and arguments made during the trial but are excused from deliberations if they are not seated as one of the 12. In previous hearings, attorneys have said cellphone records and data will be part of the evidence presented.

Maggie Meyer 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 Duane Meyer planned to end Maggie Meyer’s life.

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