Man charged in Marengo woman’s murder appears in Winnebago County bond court

A Marengo man charged with killing his girlfriend in 2020 and hiding her body in a U-Haul storage unit in Roscoe was transferred from a Wisconsin prison to Winnebago County jail Tuesday where he is being held on $5 million bond.

Jonathan Van Duyn, 34, who appeared before a Winnebago judge Wednesday afternoon, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide in the death of Michelle Arnold-Boesiger of Marengo, according to the criminal indictment.

If convicted on the murder charge, he faces a maximum of 60 years in prison. The concealment charge carries a maximum of five years. He also could be fined up to $25,000, Winnebago County Judge Erin Buhl said.

Jenna Hoffman, from the Winnebago Public Defender’s Office, was assigned Wednesday to represent Van Duyn.

In asking he be held on $5 million bond, the amount of the warrant he was transferred on, Assistant State’s Attorney Emily Palmer told the judge that Van Duyn is charged with “the most serious of allegations.”

Even if able to post the required 10% or $500,000, necessary to be released on bond, he could not be released because of the sentence he currently is serving in Wisconsin in an unrelated case.

Van Duyn, due in court for arraignment March 29, was ordered to have no contact with Arnold-Boesiger’s family.

In Wisconsin, Van Duyn is serving a 12 1/2-year prison sentence in Waupon Correctional Center for interference with child custody.

He pleaded guilty in August to abducting his 10-year-old daughter from her mother’s Wisconsin home, traveling with her to a campsite in Indiana in December 2020, and concealing her whereabouts for several days. The girl, who Van Duyn had visitation rights to, was found unharmed about three days later.

The sentence, the maximum available there on an abduction conviction, is to be served in custody for 7 1/2 years with the possibility of being released early. He would then complete the remaining five years reporting to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and adhering to conditions that bar him from having unapproved contact with the girl.

In Illinois, Van Duyn is accused of killing Arnold-Boesiger, 33, on or about Nov. 15, 2020, and hiding her body inside the storage unit. Her remains were found about four months later, on March 2, 2021, according to authorities.

Van Duyn faces up to 65 years in prison if convicted in the woman’s death, said Ken LaRue, first assistant of the criminal division of Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office. Should he be found not guilty, he would be returned to Wisconsin where he would finish out his sentencing for the abduction case, LaRue said.