An Illinois appellate court has ordered a new hearing in a 2011 Sterling shooting case, ruling that a man convicted of attempted murder has possibly presented credible evidence of self-defense that was unavailable at trial.

A former Joliet school teacher facing felony charges of grooming and indecent solicitation of a student violated his position of trust in the “most abhorrent fashion conceivable,” said Joliet’s police chief.

George Hooper, 42, of Plainfield Township, is on trial on a charge of the July 23, 2018 first-degree murder of his girlfriend, Jennifer Underhill, 42, of Rochelle.

The burglary happened in the area of Big Rock Boulevard and Mill Road in Yorkville, according to Yorkville police.

The family of a Crystal Lake man claims a Woodstock cinema left him inside a dark theater, causing him to fall and leading to his death about a week later.

A Batavia auto repair shop reported that more than $4,300 was taken from one of the owner's accounts through cybertheft.

A Crystal Lake man has been accused of 10 thefts this year in McHenry and Kane counties and elsewhere, officials say, and they blame the state's criminal justice reforms for him not being locked up.

An Indiana woman has been charged with criminal neglect of a child with a disability who died in 2023 in Bolingbrook. The charges alleged she did not provide adequate nutrition to the child.

An Amboy woman was taken into custody Thursday night in Dixon on an outstanding warrant for seven felony drug charges and subsequently charged with four additional felony drug offenses.

An Illinois appellate court has upheld the conviction of a Rock Falls man in connection with a fire at a Sterling apartment complex that killed three people in June 2020.

A judge ruled Illinois State Police “separately developed sufficient evidence” for the prosecution of former Joliet City Council member Don Dickinson, which meant two police officials were “not liable" for the prosecution.

Ceczar P. Spann, 31, was found guilty March 9 of two counts of domestic battery for striking a member of his household in September 2025.

A man is facing new felony charges just months after he was paroled from prison for burglarizing a Lakewood home, stealing from a vehicle in Crystal Lake and participating in mob action in Cary.

Julius Burkes, the man accused of killing Momence bar owner Courtney M. Drysdale, was indicted April 8 by a federal grand jury in the U.S. Central District of Illinois.

A Whiteside County jury pool allegedly includes dozens of deceased individuals, prompting a defense motion claiming systemic flaws in how Illinois compiles jury lists

A Milwaukee woman is accused of stealing perfume and cologne from Ulta stores in McHenry County and has past retail theft convictions in Wisconsin and Illinois, according to authorities and court records.

While on pretrial release for driving on a revoked license, a McHenry man with 29 prior convictions, including four for domestic batteries, is accused of abusing a woman - again, according to authorities.

A Rochelle man has been charged with battering a pregnant woman after an April 13 incident in Rochelle

A Mt. Morris man faces aggravated battery charges in connection with an April 15 domestic incident.

Accused killer Julius Burkes had his case moved to the federal level Thursday in Kankakee County Court.

Nine criminal charges filed against a Rock Falls man in connection with shots fired at a Rock Falls party last summer were dropped Monday as part of a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to burglary in an unrelated case

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is reviewing a Joliet attorney’s claim that the state’s forfeiture law is unconstitutional and has led to abusive practices by Will County prosecutors.

A Rochelle man was arrested Tuesday afternoon on a warrant issued Feb. 17 for nine charges filed that day alleging he sexually assaulted, abused and exploited children.

A 22-year-old Chicago woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges tied to the October 2025 crash on Interstate 88 that resulted in the death of a 27-year-old Rochelle woman.

Two people were charged with misdemeanor battery counts following a March 27 stabbing near Johnsburg High School, including the person stabbed, authorities said.

A Plainfield Township man is on trial for the 2018 first-degree murder of his girlfriend who died in a “brutal and devastatingly violent attack” in Romeoville, a prosecutor said. 

Officers executed a search warrant at Valtierrez’s residence in the 900 block of Rural Street in Aurora following a narcotics investigation on Monday.

A Sterling landlord has been charged after an investigation into living conditions at an apartment complex discovered pest and rodent infestation and no smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, city officials say

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol

A Whiteside County man has been charged with three counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and four additional traffic-related offenses following an incident March 20.

Prosecutors allege that a convicted felon who lives in Crystal Lake sexually assaulted a 9-year-old child he knows several times over the course of three years.

A Chicago convicted felon accused of leading police on a high-speed chase while armed with a loaded gun will remain in jail until at least his next court appearance, prosecutors said

A Sterling man has been charged with aggravated fleeing or eluding a police officer and multiple traffic violations following a March 3 incident in Whiteside County

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A lawsuit claims Kalahari, a Wisconsin Dells water park, was “negligent” for serving alcohol to an Elgin man who later “violently collided” in his Mercedes with another car near Woodstock, killing him and critically injuring a family of four.

The 20-year-old victim was in critical condition, Joliet police said. They ask for information from the public.

A Harvard man was denied pretrial release Monday after he was accused of strangling a woman until she passed out.

A Compton man is charged with attempted first-degree murder, weapons, and battery offenses after a fight near Compton, according to the Lee County sheriff

An Aurora man is in critical condition after being shot in Aurora early Monday and found on a recreational trail.

Crime fell to a five-year low in 2025 in the city of Sycamore, according to data from a newly released annual report by the Sycamore Police Department.

A West Chicago felon will remain in jail until at least his next court appearance after he allegedly pointed a gun a man before leading police on a chase, prosecutors said

A judge on this week set a date for a hearing to determine if a Sycamore man charged with murder in the 2025 killings of his parents, Gary A. Schmidt, 60, and Holly S. Schmidt, 59, will be declared fit to stand trial.

A Rock Falls man convicted in late 2025 of severely beating his 61-year-old neighbor is challenging his guilty verdict and 7-year prison sentence, arguing he was denied a fair trial due to Whiteside County’s previous systemic exclusion of qualified jurors from the jury pool.

Jenna Strouble, the Indiana woman accused of killing the father of her two children and the man's parents in Will County, pleaded not guilty Friday.

A Marseilles man charged with attempted murder will stay in La Salle County Jail while awaiting trial, a judge has ruled

A School District 300 elementary school teacher is facing six felony battery charges after authorities said he got into a physical altercation outside a Crystal Lake bar.

Two Chicago will remain in jail until at least their next court appearance, a DuPage County judge decided on Thursday

A Richmond man on pretrial release in two Wisconsin DUI cases is accused of illegally possessing stolen guns, ammunition and 50 package of firecrackers in Lake in the Hills, according to authorities.

A Lee County judge Thursday granted pretrial, conditional release to a Rock Falls woman facing nine sex-related charges that accuse her of sexually assaulting, abusing and exploiting minors.

A Lee County judge Thursday denied the release of a Dixon man charged with the sexual exploitation and assault of a child, despite his attorney’s arguments that prosecutors did not meet their burden of proof.