Life sentences for Jonathan Hurst in Sycamore Wilson murders

SYCAMORE – Nancy Strever said her family still has nightmares about finding her sister Patricia Wilson and nephew Robert Wilson beaten to death in 2016.

But the man responsible, Jonathan D. Hurst, 56, formerly of Chicago, will spend the rest of his life in prison for what he did, a judge ruled Thursday.

“The nightmares and the awful images will never leave us,” Strever read in an emotional statement in court Thursday. “They often come back as flashbacks without warning. These images are too gruesome to be shared and so this life at times becomes a lonely road to travel.”

[ Guilty verdict almost 9 years after Wilson murders in Sycamore ]

Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick sentenced Hurst to life in prison on four counts of first-degree murder – two each for Patricia and Robert. He won’t be eligible for parole or release. Buick also handed down a 30-year sentence, the maximum, for one count of home invasion.

A jury found Hurst guilty on Jan. 30 after a lengthy criminal trial. It came more than eight years after Sue Saari and her husband, Mike Saari, found the Wilsons on Aug. 15, 2016, dead inside their rural Sycamore home, 16058 Old State Road.

Authorities believe the elderly mother and son were bludgeoned to death with a “hammer-like” weapon, sometime on the night of Aug. 14. Patricia, 84, was found lying face down in the basement laundry room, half inside a crawl space next to the washer and dryer. She died first, forensic pathologist Dr. Mitra Kalelkar testified. Robert, 64, beaten and also stabbed multiple times, was found face up sprawled on the stairs.

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Jonathan D. Hurst, convicted of murdering Sycamore mother and son Patricia and Robert Wilson in 2016, talks to his lawyers after being sentenced to life in prison Thursday, March 20, 2025, at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. (Mark Busch)

As her aunt spoke Thursday, Sue Saari openly wept. During the trial, Sue sat on the witness stand and relived the panicked moments she called 911 that hot August day. The Saaris had gone to check on the Wilsons when repeated phone calls went unanswered for almost a full day.

Strever said the trauma of the tragedy still haunts her family today.

“This emptiness and heartache has crippled our lives forever,” Strever said. “Sue’s overwhelming grief was constant. During this difficult time, she also was concerned for her husband Mike who also viewed Patty and Bob. They were worried about each other’s emotional, physical, spiritual well-being.”

In her ruling, Buick took into consideration the especially violent way two people older than 60 were killed, calling them “vicious and brutal attacks.” Hurst has no known criminal history and was living in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the time of his February arrest.

Buick said evidence showed the mother and son suffered greatly at Hurst’s hands, and that they were “defenseless” when murdered.

“The court heard this evidence, the evidence in this trial and that showed that this murder was exceptionally brutal and heinous and it was indicative of wanton cruelty,” lead prosecutor Scott Schwertley said. “The number of strikes to Patricia as well as Robert by a blunt force trauma crushed the skulls of both of them.”

Hurst maintains his innocence, however.

He pleaded not guilty after his February 2020 arrest. He refused to testify at trial. And he declined again Thursday when offered a chance to make a statement. He answered Buick’s courtroom questions with one-word responses.

“This defendant, in spite of overwhelming circumstantial and physical evidence against him in this case, has not taken responsibility for his actions,” Buick said. “And as Patricia’s sister agrees, that simple question ‘Why?’ has not been answered by this defendant. It may never be answered.”

In a news release after the sentencing, DeKalb County State’s Attorney Riley Oncken thanked prosecutors including Schwertley, Brooks Locke and Neil Michling. He shared credit with his predecessor, Rick Amato, for seeking justice.

But Oncken also called Hurst’s “lack of accountability infuriating.”

“His silence leaves the Wilson family and our community with the unanswered question of why he committed such a horrific crime and then simply drove home to Chicago, never looking back,” Oncken said.

Judge denies request for new trial

Before the sentence was handed down, Hurst’s defense team gave a last-ditch effort to reverse the verdict. Lead defense attorney Chip Criswell of the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office filed on Feb. 26 for a new trial, court records show.

Criswell pointed to Hurst’s lack of criminal history and said murder was “completely out of his nature,” citing trial testimony from Hurst’s siblings.

Criswell argued that prosecutors hadn’t presented sufficient evidence to support the jury’s guilty verdict.

He cast doubt on a yearslong multi-agency police investigation. He alleged detectives didn’t properly vet other potential suspects and didn’t process the crime scene thoroughly enough. He’d attempted to have evidence thrown out before the trial. But each time Buick denied it, ruling that the prosecutors' case was built on forensic proof, including DNA.

“It cut our defense off at the knees,” Criswell said.

In response, Schwertley also recalled remarks he’d made at trial, arguing the evidence was, despite Hurst’s defense claims, damning.

Traces of Hurst’s DNA and fingerprints were found on multiple items inside the Wilson home. His fingerprint was on a downstairs bathroom mirror and multiple Diet Coke cans. His DNA was on a pillow and two knives in the basement laundry room crawl space. Schwertley called it “a secretive lair.”

He’d denied ever being in Sycamore. But cellphone records put Hurst in the Sycamore area on Aug. 14, the last time anyone saw the Wilsons alive. Patricia’s missing car was found on Stockton Avenue near Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. That’s less than a mile from Hurst’s Wells Street apartment where he lived at the time, according to trial testimony.

It’s been 3,140 days since the Wilsons were killed. Hurst’s sentencing came more than five years after his arrest.

It’s been a long road for the family, Strever said. She called up memories of the Wilsons. For them, a typical Sunday turned into an unfathomable reality.

Strever remembered how Robert “gave generously” to people in his life and was a faithful member of the Sycamore Moose Lodge. She spoke about her sister, who she called Patty, and said the weekly church-goer was “kind and giving.” Patty loved passing out dollar bills to local children, Strever said.

She remembered their final phone call, about 7:45 p.m. Aug. 14. “The last time I ever heard her voice,” Strever said as her voice trembled.

She spoke directly to Hurst at times, though didn’t appear to look at him. During most of Strever’s remarks, Hurst also looked away from her. At times he appeared to glance her way, however.

“Jonathan, you came into my family’s home and brutally killed two beautiful people for no apparent reason,” Strever said.

Strever thanked area law enforcement, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, prosecutors and investigators for bringing answers to her grieving family.

But one glaring question remains.

“We are devastated by the pain you caused, the pain we’ve had to carry for all these eight and a half years,” Strever told Hurst. “It’s been difficult to spend all of these hours in court reliving all of this trauma. And still, we do not have a reason for your horrible brutal murder of Patty and Bob. Perhaps we’ll never know why.”