Wilson homicides scene pointed to ‘sloppy suspect,’ police detective says

SYCAMORE – When DeKalb police Detective Kelly Sullivan saw the home of Patricia Wilson and Robert Wilson the night they were found beaten to death Aug. 15, 2016, she said her investigative training pointed to a “sloppy” killer.

Sullivan, now retired from policing, gave witness testimony on her role processing a bloody crime scene to collect possible evidence of its culprit. She and almost two dozen detectives from multiple DeKalb County police agencies spent five days, between late Aug. 15 and Aug. 22, going through the Wilson home.

Sullivan said her professional assessment of the crime scene painted a picture of a rushed suspect – a killer who perhaps hadn’t thought of murder ahead of time, someone who attempted, unsuccessfully, to clean up after, she said.

“I would say based on the crime scene, my analysis of the crime scene, the suspect was very sloppy and disorganized with the murders that had happened,” Sullivan said.

The man accused in the killings, Jonathan D. Hurst, has pleaded not guilty, denied ever being in Sycamore and told police that he didn’t know the Wilsons, authorities have said. Hurst, 55, formerly of Chicago, sat for day two of his criminal trial Friday. He’s charged with four counts of murder and one count home invasion. If convicted, he faces a life sentence.

[ Distraught 911 call begins emotional first day of testimonies at Wilson murders trial ]

When police went through the Wilson home to begin, much of it looked typical, according to crime scene photographs prosecutors showed the jury Friday – crowded with knick-knacks, lived in.

The Wilsons had white wicker furniture in their sunroom, a heart-shaped wreath on the wall. In the dining room sat a white tablecloth atop a large table with enough ornamental brown chairs surrounding it to fill the room with guests. Hallway walls were covered in picture frames. Patricia’s daily pill dispenser sat with half-unused medication.

The only thing atypical was the splattered blood in the foyer and sunroom, leading downstairs to Patricia Wilson, 85, and Robert Wilson, 64, dead in their home.

Multiple Wilson family members attended some of the day’s proceedings. They left before photographs depicting the brutal crime scene were shown.

Police testimony details bloody crime scene, evidence aftermath

When the DeKalb County Major Case Squad was activated by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office after 6 p.m. Aug. 15, 2016, Sullivan was called, too.

She arrived at 16058 Old State Road about 9:40 p.m. that Monday, hours after Patricia’s daughter, Sue Saari, and Sue’s husband Mike Saari found their dead family members. The Saaris had gone to the rural home after they weren’t able to get ahold of the Wilsons all day. Patricia and Robert were last seen alive the Sunday before, Aug. 14.

Police were waiting for a judge to sign a warrant before they could enter the Wilson home, Sullivan said. So they stood outside, taking photographs and video of the home’s exterior. She donned special crime scene gear meant to ensure that stepping in and out of rooms didn’t contaminate possible evidence.

About 10:20 p.m. Aug. 15, the warrant was signed. Sullivan and three other detectives – Angel Reyes, Jackie Lane and Josh Duehning – went inside.

Their task was an important one: Photograph and videotape all rooms in the home before touching anything. Determine what to collect for evidence, where to swipe for fingerprints and what to gather for possible DNA.

“I was certain that when I was done processing that crime scene that I had the suspect’s DNA,” Sullivan said. “It was just a matter of linking it to the suspect at the house.”

Lead prosecutor Scott Schwertley asked Sullivan why she’d theorized that the killer was sloppy.

Sullivan pointed to her training and experience investigating homicides for 10 years in DeKalb. She said detectives are taught to look for clues and use them to build a suspect profile. Premeditated murderers often leave “very organized” crime scenes, Sullivan said.

What she saw in the Wilson home was not.

Blood smeared on the hardwood floor in the foyer showed a possibly half-hearted attempt to clean up, Sullivan said. That’s why police took a Windex bottle found in the home as possible evidence. Blood was splattered multiple places: inside the ground-level sunroom doorframe, on a blue sailboat rug, down the stairs where Robert’s body lay.

In the basement laundry room, Patricia’s body lay facedown, half in a crawl space near the dryer. Inside the crawl space was a red and black-checkered blanket, laid out on the hard floor next to a white pillow. Next to that pillow was an 11-inch knife, a 7-inch knife and a knife sheath with no knife inside it, photographs showed. Three diet coke cans sat next to the knives, which did not appear bloody in photographs.

Sullivan said she believes what she saw indicated a “hurried” but not “very good” cleanup effort.

“And I believe that Mr. Wilson was probably drug down the stairs so that if somebody went to go check on the house, they would look through the window and sort of nothing would be amiss,” Sullivan said. “So I believe he was pulled down the stairs and left there in an attempt to sort of give the suspect more time to get away.”

The Wilsons were severely beaten, graphic photographs showed. Patricia’s face was so severely beaten that it was unrecognizable in pictures. Robert’s face also suffered significant bruising. Both his eyes were blackened.

The Wilsons died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the DeKalb County Coroner’s Office. As of Friday, authorities have not said what was used to beat them. Robert also was stabbed four times. Patricia’s right hand was sliced. Both Wilsons were found fully clothed and had valuables on them, including cash, a wallet and jewelry, according to coroner’s records.

No motive has been publicly identified.

Hurst did not appear to react visibly to the graphic photographs, nor to surveillance video played of Patricia Wilson’s missing car found less than a mile from where he used to live in Chicago or other police testimony Friday.

His lead defense lawyer, Public Defender Chip Criswell, told Buick at the start of the day’s proceedings that Hurst wasn’t feeling well.

Criswell asked Sullivan – and later Reyes, whose testimony lasted almost three hours Friday – how police decided what items to collect, fingerprint or swab.

The Wilson home, Criswell argued, was full of items. Photographs showed cluttered rooms.

“Based on our knowledge of what might have happened at the scene, we look at what we can possibly process, and the place had a lot of stuff,” Reyes said. “You pick whatever looks like might have been disturbed, might have been touched, might be fresh, and then make the best decision.”

Among other items, police took 11 knives from the Wilson home for testing, Sullivan said. Door handles inside and outside the home were swabbed for possible DNA.

Prosecutors haven’t yet presented the jury with results of that testing or shown how investigators found their suspect in Hurst years after that fateful day in August.

Patricia had spent Sunday morning with Robert at St. John Lutheran Church, where she frequently handed out $1 bills to the children, fellow congregant Carl Heide said in testimony Thursday.

She was “a very nice woman,” Heide said. “Seemingly always happy.”

She must have passed on some of that generosity to Robert, according to friend Cindy Bocklund’s testimony. Bocklund knew Robert from the Sycamore Moose Lodge.

Would she call Robert a charitable person? Would he have helped those in need, defense attorney Emma Franklin asked Thursday.

“Definitely,” Bocklund said. “Without a doubt.”

This story was updated on Jan. 26, 2025, to correct an earlier version which misstated the day of some witness testimony. Bocklund and Heide’s testimony was Thursday. Jan. 23, 2025.