The day that an Ogle County teacher was found dead in her burned Byron home started out as a “perfect” fall day, but ended as a nightmare, an assistant for the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s office told jurors Tuesday.

Assistant Ogle County State’s Attorney Allison Huntley said prosecutors would prove that Duane “DC” Meyer, 43, of Stillman Valley, was responsible for the deaths of his ex-wife and their 3-year-old son in October 2016.

“He attacked and murdered Maggie while Amos was sleeping in his room,” Huntley told jurors during the state’s opening argument.

But Meyer’s defense attorney told jurors that while the deaths were a “heartbreaking tragedy”, his client was not responsible and the state’s case was based solely on circumstantial evidence.

Tuesday was the opening day of arguments in Meyer’s jury trial in which he is accused of killing his ex-wife, Margaret “Maggie” (Rosko) Meyer, and then setting her home on fire with their 3-year-old son inside.

Meyer, who is being referred to as DC during the trial, 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 Maggie, 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.

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 DC planned to end Maggie’s life.

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

On Tuesday, Huntley told jurors that DC needed Maggie dead so he could pursue a new relationship with another woman. She said Maggie and Amos “died at the hands of the only person who needed them dead”.

Meyer’s attorney, Christopher DeRango, disagreed.

“Nobody is here to tell you that what happened to Maggie and Amos is not a heartbreaking tragedy,” he said telling jurors there were no eyewitnesses, confession, or direct forensic proof to prove DC’s guilt. “These are inferences charged on top of assumptions.”

Monday testimony

Maggie’s mother, Luann Rosko, testified that she saw her daughter and Amos the day before their deaths. “She {Maggie} was a very caring, energetic person,” Rosko said. “She was passionate about her son and teaching.”

Rosko testified that Amos had taken his pet rabbit to preschool to show his classmates earlier that day after being named a “Star Student”.

“He {Amos} was a beautiful soul. He loved to play like all 3-year-olds,” Rosko said.

Rosko testified that when she and her husband left Maggie’s home around 5:10 p.m. Maggie and Amos were fine. She said she learned about their deaths the next morning when DC’s father called.

Byron Fire Chief Andrew Politsch said he was one of the first firefighters to report to the 6:30 a.m. fire where multiple victims were reported to be inside the two-story home in the rural subdivision north of Byron.

Politsch said he saw two other first responders performing CPR on someone in the front yard before he and another firefighter entered the home where they encountered “heavy smoke conditions”.

He said they were dressed in full gear - including oxygen tanks – to search the upstairs bedroom, where reports had indicated a victim may be.

No one was found upstairs, but the charred body of Maggie was found on a sofa on the first floor, Politsch said. Amos was transported to a Rockford hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

“To me it was very apparent where the fire started. I’ve been doing this job for a long time, but this call...”, Politsch said pausing to collect himself. “I will never forget. There was a body burnt beyond recognition laying on the couch.”

Ogle County Detective Char Gallick testified that DC told them that when he arrived at the Byron home around 6:30 a.m. to pick up Amos, he entered the smoke-filled home, called out for Amos, and after two attempts was able to get upstairs and carry Amos outside.

Politsch said firefighters could see the outline of Amos’s body on Amos’s mattress after smoke had cleared. “That young man never moved a muscle,” Politsch said.

Five state witnesses testified Monday with more testimony scheduled to begin again at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, and continue through the week.

The trial is estimated to take up to three weeks.

Jury selection

A 12th juror was selected around noon Monday, Jan. 12, after a new panel of potential jurors was summoned to appear at the Ogle County Judicial Center in Oregon.

After four days of jury selection, the process was paused Jan. 8 after court officials had gone through two panels of potential jurors and there were no more potential jurors left to question.

Jury selection began again Monday morning and continued to 5 p.m., with four alternate jurors also selected for the trial.

Before the start of Monday’s jury selection, Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe denied a defense motion by Meyer’s attorneys Christopher DeRango and Patrick Moore for a change of venue and mistrial based on the difficulty of securing a jury.

Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock and his assistants, Matthew Leisten and Allison Huntley, argued against the motion.

Roe has admonished the selected jurors 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 are serving as 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. That motion was denied in April.

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.

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

Roe excused the majority of potential jurors for a variety of reasons, including economic and employment hardships with the length of the trial, personal issues, health issues and predisposition as to the trial’s outcome.

The defense and prosecution had a limited number of excusals at their disposal.

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 cannot 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.