Spring Grove man charged with wife's murder threatened to kill her in 2015, documents show

SPRING GROVE – Elizabeth Volberding sought an order of protection against her husband, Lorin Volberding, in January 2015 after he threatened to kill her, but she let the order expire weeks later.

Lorin Volberding, 71, was charged Friday for fatally shooting his wife, authorities allege. She was found shot in the neck at their Spring Grove residence, 10800 block of Riviera Drive, after a neighbor called 911. Lorin Volberding is now in McHenry County Jail on a first-degree murder charge in lieu of posting 10 percent of $1 million.

This was not the first time police had been called to their home.

In January 2015, Elizabeth Volberding, 68, filed an emergency order of protection in McHenry County Court after an incident where she stated her husband woke her up, called her names and said, “Get out of the house, I’m going to kill you,” according to the order.

She said Lorin Volberding then went into the basement where the guns were kept, but she believed there was no ammunition in the house. The two were both retired members of the Chicago Police Department.

Elizabeth Volberding called police, and several officers with the Spring Grove Police Department responded to assist her, she wrote in the order. Lorin Volberding had barricaded himself in his home, but his wife was able to leave the residence before officers arrived, police said. The incident ended without injury after about three hours.

She also said her husband was diagnosed with acute dementia in December 2014, suffers seizures and recently had heart surgery. She said after the incident her husband was involuntarily admitted to the hospital for a mental health evaluation, and police recommended she seek an order of protection for her safety.

Elizabeth Volberding did not state in the order of protection that she wanted any firearms removed from the residence, despite her mention of them in the complaint.

No charges were filed against Lorin Volberding, and the order of protection expired on Feb. 5, 2015, just weeks later, after both parties failed to show up to court.

Spring Grove Police Chief Tom Sanders told the Northwest Herald that officers filed paperwork to have Lorin Volberding’s FOID card revoked after the January incident. About a month later, Elizabeth Volberding came to the police department with her valid FOID card and brought the guns back to their shared residence, he said. Sanders said he believed the couple had a pistol and two long guns in their possession.

Sanders said the only other incident where police were called to the home was several months later for a verbal domestic incident. He said the husband called police insisting that his wife be arrested for verbally assaulting him.

Family members have said issues of domestic violence between the couple persisted for a long period of time. Son-in-law Randy Tison said Elizabeth Volberding would sometimes call her daughter and him in tears, asking for a place to stay for the night because of violence at their Spring Grove home.

The Tison family distanced themselves from the Volberdings in 2007, said Elizabeth Volberding’s daughter, Jen Tison.