Hinsdale man killed ex-wife in Geneva a month before $1K monthly debt payments were to start: court records

GENEVA – A Kane County judge had ordered Chad Dockery to pay his ex-wife more than $10,000 in monthly installments or face jail a week before he shot and killed her and then turned the gun on himself, court records show.

After a June 9 court appearance in which Dockery represented himself, Associate Judge Bradley David found Dockery was in indirect civil contempt for not keeping up with agreed payments to Amanda Dockery, court records show.

David threatened Chad Dockery with jail, but his written order kept him out of jail as long as he paid Amanda Dockery monthly installments until the $10,041 debt was cleared, records show. Those monthly payments were to commence July 15, records show.

The next court date was set for Aug. 30 with a warning: “A body writ for respondent’s arrest may issue if he fails to appear.”

Authorities have not offered a motive behind what might have prompted Chad Dockery to shoot and kill his ex-wife.

The 49-year-old Dockery called 911 at 5:22 p.m. June 14 and reported he was armed with a pistol and that “he murdered his former wife” at a house in the 1000 block of Pebble Beach Court in Geneva, police said June 15 in a news release. Amanda Dockery, 48, was living in the house, police said.

When police arrived, Chad Dockery was in a vehicle at the end of the driveway and shot and killed himself as officers approached, according to the release. A 9 mm pistol was found at the scene, police said.

Randy Craig, a neighbor across the Pebble Beach Court cul-de-sac where Amanda Dockery lived, said she was an amazing woman.

“It’s a tragedy. She was a sweet lady,” Craig said. “She was always wonderful to my children.”

Chad and Amanda Dockery had been married for almost 21 years when she filed for divorce on July 12, 2019, citing irreconcilable differences, court records show. They had two children.

The couple sold their house on Willis Circle in the Mill Creek subdivision the next month, according to the divorce decree.

Chad Dockery worked as a project manager with an annual salary of $104,000, according to an Aug. 20, 2020, court order for support. He was to pay $1,768 in combined child support and maintenance, according to the court order. Police said Chad Dockery was living in Hinsdale.

Secretary of State and county property records show the owner of the company where Chad Dockery worked also owned the Pebble Beach Court home where Amanda Dockery was killed.

Amanda Dockery was a full-time homemaker and worked part-time, court records show.

The judge’s May 9 order acknowledged Chad Dockery had started bankruptcy proceedings and set the next court date for June 9.

The shooting remains under investigation by Geneva police and the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force, according to the police department’s news release.