McHenry County Deputy Dwight Maness dies year after Holiday Hills shooting

WOODSTOCK – A McHenry County sheriff’s deputy shot last year in the line of duty died Monday, the sheriff’s office confirmed.

Deputy Dwight Maness still was recovering from injuries he sustained less than a year ago in a shooting in Holiday Hills. The sheriff’s office didn’t confirm any other details on Maness’ death. He was 47.

Maness, of McHenry, and his wife, Sue, recently marked Dwight’s 47th – the first birthday since the night he and a partner were ambushed in Holiday Hills. His birthday fell on the same night as the vigil for Fox Lake Police Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz, another law enforcement officer who was shot Sept. 1. There was nowhere else Maness wanted to be.

“We went to celebrate life,” he said in a Sept. 3 interview with the Northwest Herald. “Not to mourn, but to celebrate [Gliniewicz’s] life, as well as mine.”

A former U.S. Army Ranger, Maness vowed recovery. He was committed to walking again, and told the Northwest Herald in that interview he was eager to return to work and eventually hop on the motorcycle. Maness’ doctors told him he was healing better than anticipated.

He and his partner, Deputy Khalia Satkiewicz responded to Holiday Hills on Oct. 16, 2014, for a reported domestic situation. Shooter Scott B. Peters fired more than a dozen rounds through the front door as he yelled: “Airborne!” Peters continued firing on the deputies as they retreated for safety.

Peters eventually was sentenced to 135 years in prison.

Maness was shot in the back and leg and remained dependent on a wheelchair or walker. Satkiewicz also survived, and both deputies received the county’s first and only Purple Hearts from the sheriff’s office.

Maness, a 7-year, 11-month veteran of the sheriff’s office, spent 20 years with the U.S. Army and saw combat in Iraq in 1990-91. He retired from the military with the rank of sergeant first class.

“I’m the real Airborne Ranger right here,” Maness said after Peters was found guilty on all 15 felonies. “I have the determination. I will put in the hard work. I will walk again.”

In a statement, Sheriff Bill Prim said his office reported Maness’ death “with profound sadness.”

Shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, more than 50 sheriff’s squad cars and other law enforcement vehicles traveled from McHenry to Woodstock via Route 120 with their lights on and sirens off. A police source said they were bringing Maness’ body to the morgue.

“I came to know Deputy Maness during my nine months as sheriff,” Prim said. “I had a conversation with him about a week ago, and he was enthusiastic about regaining his strength and returning to patrol. This news is devastating to the law enforcement community here in McHenry County.”

Maness served as a field training officer, a member of the SWAT team and a first aid instructor, according to the sheriff’s office. In a recent interview with the Northwest Herald, he blasted the rash of police shooting deaths in the weeks leading up to the Fox Lake shooting that killed Gliniewicz.

“It just has to stop,” he said. “Stop targeting police officers. We’re there to do a job to protect a community and to come home to our families. We’re not out there to die.

“I went to work every day,” Maness continued. “I wanted to serve the community and do right by the community. And just like every police officer that puts on the uniform, that’s all they want to do is serve their community and protect it.”

The Northwest Herald interview with the Manesses bounced between emotional and jovial as Dwight and Sue Maness reflected on the Holiday Hills shooting that forever changed their lives, and what their future held.

The couple would have celebrated five years of marriage on Sept. 29. It was the second marriage for both. The pair met at a motorcycle fundraiser, and Dwight recalled being instantly smitten.

“We’ve been together ever since,” Maness said. “And we’ve been happy. Both of us finally made that connection.

“She’s the love of my life.”