A judge allowed prosecutors to treat two of their own witnesses as hostile in a 2018 Romeoville murder trial after they repeatedly claimed to not remember the circumstances of the incident nor recall what they told police.

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

Assistant State’s Attorney Amanda Tasker said George Hooper killed Underhill in a “brutal and devastatingly violent attack.”

Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius will decide whether Hooper is guilty of the charge.

Cornelius allowed prosecutors to treat Hooper’s brother, Geremy Hooper, 40, and Amanda Weck, 41, both of Villa Park, as hostile witnesses. That usually allows prosecutors to ask their own witnesses leading questions and challenge their credibility.

Geremy Hooper works as a truck driver and Weck is the mother of his children.

While Weck appeared frustrated throughout her testimony early last week, Geremy Hooper was smiling at times during his own testimony on Friday.

‘Don’t remember’

Geremy Hooper and Weck repeatedly testified to not remembering the details they told police in 2018 about the incident involving Underhill’s death.

They also told prosecutors they either didn’t remember their video-recorded statements to detectives or the video would not refresh their memory.

In response to Tasker’s questions about the incident, Geremy Hooper frequently answered with, “Don’t remember.”

A few times, he would answer with “No” when Tasker was in the middle of asking him whether he remembers his statements to police.

Detectives learned Weck had suspected Geremy Hooper was cheating on her with Underhill, according to prosecutors.

Consequently, Weck went along with George Hooper to confront Geremy Hooper and Underhill on the night of July 22, 2018, prosecutors said.

Geremy Hooper testified to remembering having sex with Underhill that night inside of a parked semitrailer near a warehouse in Romeoville.

But he testified to not remembering what else occurred.

As a result, prosecutors played video of Geremy Hooper telling detectives in 2018 his brother smashed the window to the semitrailer and pulled a gun on him.

Geremy Hooper also told detectives that he left the scene after his brother arrived before returning a while later. He told them he saw his brother, who said, “I’ll shoot you, I’ll shoot you.”

Underhill’s autopsy

When officers responded to the scene, they searched the area and found Underhill’s body.

The autopsy revealed Underhill suffered a broken jaw, broken ribs, as well as multiple bruises and abrasions from her head down to her feet, according to the testimony of Valerie Arangelovich, a forensic pathologist.

Arangelovich said she had to shave the hair on Underhill’s head to see the full extent of the injuries there. She said she saw pattern bruising on Underhill’s body, which indicates she was struck with an object.

Arangelovich said Underhill died from blunt force trauma “due to an assault.” She said the injuries to Underhill’s head and torso by themselves were fatal.

George Hooper has not yet decided whether he’ll testify.

Prosecutors played his 2018 video interview, which showed him telling detectives that he punched Underhill more than once and she didn’t get back up when she fell to the ground.

George Hooper said he did not know Underhill died until the detectives told him. He was seen on video wiping his face with tissue while sitting across from the detectives.

“I can’t believe that,” he said.

‘It’s been a long time’

Rose Parker, 65, the mother of George and Geremy Hooper, also testified at the trial.

Parker remembered some of the circumstances in the case but not everything, such as whether police came to her house.

“It’s been a long time. I don’t remember,” Parker said.

Parker said she did not recall facing felony charges of obstructing the police investigation. In 2020, she pleaded guilty to an amended misdemeanor charge of providing false information to police, court records show.

Parker was with George Hooper and a few other family members in a vehicle on July 23, 2018 in southern Illinois when they were pulled over in a traffic stop, according to a statement of facts signed by Parker.

Parker got upset with her son when she told him he had a gun on him, according to the statement.

Following the traffic stop, Parker admitted to detectives in an interview that she previously provided them the wrong phone number for George Hooper but she claimed it was not intentional, according to the statement.