Jury deliberates in McHenry man accused of killing ex-girlfriend

WOODSTOCK — Jurors are deliberating in the case of a McHenry man charged in the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend whose remains were found in a bedroom in his McHenry home more than two years later.

Attorneys presented their closing arguments and jurors began deliberating about 11:05 a.m. Friday.

William J. Ross is accused of shooting 49-year-old Jacqueline Schaefer — then dressed in a black Harley Davidson T-shirt, pink sweatpants and had her long blonde hair in a braid — in the left temporal lobe and spine sometime in 2011, sealing the bedroom with caulk, trim, paint, screws and nails, and then abandoning the McHenry home months later.

Ross was arrested in 2013 in Las Vegas and charged with concealing a homicide. In 2014, he was charged with murder.

Forensic pathologist Larry Blum previously testified that, to a "reasonable degree of scientific medical certainty," two gunshot wounds were the cause of Schaefer's death.

Her remains were found behind the sealed bedroom door at 518 Country Club Drive by Ross's friend Renee Bitton and her then-boyfriend, Jerome Mikos, on Nov. 6, 2013.

McHenry County Assistant State's Attorney Michael Combs said the defendant's testimony Thursday was "pure science fiction."

"He shot her like a mongrel dog and he sealed up that room," Combs said.

Ross, 64, who testified in his own defense before the jury, said he did not necessarily deny Schaefer was killed by someone. He said Schaefer had several enemies, as did he, including an ex-boyfriend, a Missouri motorcycle gang and even her family who he said wanted her dead for a life insurance policy.

He also said his friend and caretaker of the McHenry property Renee Bitton "wasn't very friendly at some times."

Ross went on later to say he believed Bitton was a liar, thief and drug addict, and went as far as to point the finger at Bitton, arguing that someone may have killed Schaefer and planted his DNA found on the caulk between the sealed bedroom door.

"You don't seal the door like a tomb if there's not a body in there," Combs said in closing arguments.

Combs said the last two dates she recorded anything in her academic planner and checkbook were in Sept. 2011, indicating she may have been killed sometime in the fall of 2011.

He said Ross also made several purchases at Home Depot and Ace Hardware in June 2012 — items which included caulk, nails, duct tape and paint.

"He was going to secure (the room) like a fortress," Combs said.

Combs said if Ross didn't kill Schaefer, then it makes no sense as to why he would purchase these items and seal the door before leaving on a cross-country road trip.

Ross previously said in testimony that he traveled west in the summer of 2012 to visit friends because he was retired and "it's something (he) always wanted to do."

"He is a lying, liar," Combs said. "Every time his lips move he is lying."

Defense Attorney Stephen Richards said in closing statements that there was no blood spatter or gun recovered. He said the state also did not prove Schaefer died from gunshot wounds, and therefore did not have a case for first-degree murder.

He said Blum testified that officials could have tested hair and bones to see if there were any indications she could have died from a drug overdose, but they made a decision not to do so.

He also said the state argued Ross was the one who sealed the bedroom based on his DNA on the caulk between the sealed bedroom door, but Richards said he is not being charged for concealing a homicide and so that is not necessarily relevant.

Ross was previously charged in 2013 with concealing a homicide and the charge was dismissed prior to trial by agreement of both parties.

He said the presence of Ross's DNA in his own home is not strange because it's where he lived.

Prosecutors have argued that the demeanor and responses given by Ross during police interrogations were those of an "intelligent, educated murderer" who had the time to calculate his answers before being questioned in Las Vegas in 2013.

Richards disagreed and said his actions were those of a "paranoid, embittered longtime alcoholic" who was innocent of the charges against him.

"He's living in his own distorted world and his actions are not rationale," he said.

Ross faces 20 to 60 years on the murder charge and if prosecutors are able to prove the crime was committed with a firearm, he could be sentenced to an additional 25 years to life.

Judge Sharon Prather is presiding over the trial.