Jonathan Hurst, charged in 2016 Sycamore double murder, appears virtually in court Wednesday

SYCAMORE – It’s been about a year since 51-year-old Jonathan Hurst was arrested and charged with murder in the double homicide of a rural Sycamore mother and her son, and while his case remains slow-going because of court protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he appeared virtually for a hearing this week.

Hurst remains held without bail in DeKalb County jail, accused of beating and stabbing to death Robert Wilson, 64, and his mother Patricia Wilson, 85, on Aug. 14, 2016. He appeared briefly at his status hearing via Zoom Wednesday.

From Cincinnati and formerly of Chicago, Hurst was arrested after a 3½ year-long investigation of the brutal deaths of the Wilsons, in their home at 16058 Old State Road in rural Sycamore, police said. Hurst was living in Cincinnati at the time of his arrest last February, and was determined the person of interest after an extensive forensics investigation.

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said Hurst’s DNA matched samples recovered by investigators from the murder scene.

Although his DNA was not included in any criminal database, a match for Hurst was found after Virginia-based Parabon Labs used a publicly available DNA database to construct a family tree for the suspect which led to his capture.

According to the coroner’s report, the crime scene police stumbled upon in August 2016 was “gruesome.” Police were alerted to the house of horror by a family member who had gone to check on the Wilsons. The killer used an unknown weapon to inflict repeated head injuries on the victims, who likely fought for their lives, according to the coroner.

The report from the scene Aug. 15, 2016, shows that both victims were found fully clothed with valuables including cash, a wallet and jewelry on them, backing the police assertion that the killer seemed to take nothing from the house but a vehicle.

Patricia Wilson was found face down on the floor of her laundry room on the lower level of the home. Robert Wilson lay on his back at the base of the home’s carpeted stairs on the ground floor.

Both had suffered massive head wounds from being beaten with an unidentified weapon. Robert Wilson also had holes in his blue short-sleeved T-shirt from where he’d been stabbed four times.

Patricia’s right hand was sliced.

Hurst stole Patricia Wilson’s 2010 Chevrolet Impala from the Wilson home after the alleged murders. Hurst has no known ties to the Sycamore area or the Wilson family, but deputies say an abundance of DNA collected in the Wilsons’ home matches Hurst with the crime. Cellphone records put him in the area the day before, and Patricia’s vehicle was found parked less than a mile from Hurst’s former home in Chicago.

If convicted Hurst faces life in prison. He pleaded not guilty in March. Investigators thus far have not unveiled a motive or pointed to any weapon used by the killer to allegedly bludgeon the Wilsons to death.

His next court appearance is set for Jan. 19.