Will County Sheriff

An internal affairs investigation has still not begun over a Will County sheriff lieutenant’s fatal shooting of a bank hostage taker in 2022.

Public safety was prioritized in the Will County 2025 fiscal year budget, with public safety and judicial operations making up 62% of the county’s operating budget.

Devin Nier, 42, was arrested on Friday and charged with aggravated battery, and domestic battery, after barricading himself inside a home in unincorporated Plainfield Township Friday morning.

David A. Grijalva, 23, of Joliet was arrested Thursday in Channahon by the Will County sheriff’s police and the United States Marshals Service and charged in connection with the 2021 mass shooting at a Halloween party in Joliet Township.

The skeletal remains of a 1968 homicide victim in Wilmington Township has been exhumed and sent to a company based in Texas for DNA analysis and a possible genealogy match.

A pilot of a glider plane suffered minor injuries after he was forced to make an emergency landing in Wilmington, according to a Will County sheriff's deputy chief.

The U.S. Attorney's Office sent a "large quantity of discovery" to Will County prosecutors who are handling the Plainfield Township hate crime murder case against a landlord, court records show.

The body was identified Tuesday evening as Chicago pastor Warren Beard, 53, who was was last seen July 2 in Joliet, Will County Coroner Laurie Summers said.

The investigation into a Will County sheriff's lieutenant's shooting of a hostage taker at a Romeoville bank still remains open after more than two years. Illinois State Police won't publicly disclose records in the case.

Will County Sheriff's Police Deputies Victoria Sims Janovyak and Mike Janovyak have been working for seven years to increase fundraising and participation for Special Olympics in Will County through their department.

Will County prosecutors argue a Coal City man can still undergo a second trial for the 2017 murder of a woman at the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse. The man is trying to get the case dismissed on double jeopardy grounds.

A Joliet man will remain in jail in a case where he's charged with killing a man and wounding another man in a Lockport Township shooting. The two victims were not the intended target, police said.

A Joliet man has been charged with the first-degree murder of a man and wounding another man in a shooting that was reported on Feb. 8 in Lockport Township.

A Will County case where a Plainfield Township landlord is charged with killing a Muslim child was delayed once again because federal authorities have yet to complete their investigation.

The Will County Sheriff's Office are investigating an incident where the sheriff's son was reportedly scammed out of money he paid for the National Football Championship game.

A Will County sheriff's lieutenant facing a wrongful death lawsuit is seeking to attempt a settlement before answering the allegations. The investigation of the deadly shooting is still open after 21 months.

A married couple may have died in a possible murder-suicide in New Lenox Township.

The trial for a North Carolina man charged with the 2018 murder of a woman whose body was discovered by a hunter in Joliet Township has been rescheduled.

A Will County sheriff lieutenant's shooting of a man who took hostages at a Romeoville bank still remains under investigation and review since the incident occurred on May 10, 2022.

An arbitrator said the former Will County sheriff’s deputy’s actions that led to the 2021 crash had negatively affected the reputation of the sheriff’s office and he violated traffic laws that he was responsible for enforcing.

The animal cruelty case marks the latest effort by Will County officials this year to address alleged animal abuse occurring in rodeos.

The defense for Joseph Czuba are seeking all recordings – including from someone who is claiming they are a jail inmate – that may be used against him in the case where he’s accused of stabbing a child to death and attempting to kill his mother in Plainfield Township.

On Monday, Joseph Czuba, 71, was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and on attempting to kill the boy's mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, on Oct. 14 at a Plainfield Township residence.

A Will County judge will only allow still photography in the courtroom in a Plainfield Township murder and hate crime but that may change if the case is assigned to another judge.

The FBI is encouraging anyone with information regarding the Plainfield Township attack on a Muslim family – or other potential hate crimes – to contact the law enforcement agency at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

A Plainfield Township man charged with attacking a Muslim family — including stabbing to death a 6-year-old boy — was a regular listener of conservative talk radio who had been concerned about the “National Day of Jihad” in the time leading up to the attack, prosecutors said.

Will County Sheriff’s Detective Shaun Moran has been honored with the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police award for stopping attempted robberies of a neighbor and local business while he was off-duty.

A undernourished dog found in Washington Township who had been shot with paintballs has grown more confident and exuberant while in the custody of Will County Animal Control.

A Batavia man is facing animal cruelty charges after he was accused of striking a horse with his hands and a leather whip at a rodeo venue known as La Herradura De Joliet.

The criminal justice system in Will County will join the rest of Illinois in implementing cashless bail for defendants charged with crimes.

A fired Will County sheriff’s deputy has pleaded guilty to aggravated speeding in a 2021 incident that involved a major crash in Joliet that injured several people.

A Will County coalition fighting against substance abuse has been awarded a $1.25 million grant over a five-year period for prevention efforts in the county.

A Sauk Village man has been arrested in Will County after he was accused of stealing hundreds of vases from a Monee Township cemetery and seeking them for $15 each to businesses, police said.

Will County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Dan Jungles announced he will seek the Will County Sheriff's office in 2026.

The Republican opponent to Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley filed his lawsuit with retaliation claims well past the two-year time limit, according to a federal judge.

Will County prosecutors said a judge’s finding that a former Crest Hill police officer likely killed his girlfriend is “light years away” from what they would need to prove in a criminal case.

Victor Harris Jr., of Joliet, was the man who was shot by the officers on Monday in the 600 block of Elmwood Avenue in Joliet, according to the coroner’s office.

The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the abolishment of cash bail struck an ominous note for some leaders in Will County law enforcement but one local Black Lives Matter activist saw it as justice served.

Will County prosecutors have not made a decision on charges in an incident where a Will County sheriff's lieutenant fatally shot a man who took hostages at a Romeoville bank last year.

A former prosecutor who’s now a Will County judge has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit by a key witness in a reckless homicide case that concluded last year with a guilty verdict.

Sheriff’s deputies caught a man who was hiding in a truck in downtown Joliet a day after he ran away from a vehicle where a stolen 9 mm firearm was found, police said.

Will County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Queeney was among 37 fallen officers who were recognized at the 42nd Will County Law Enforcement Memorial Day.

A federal judge granted a request from the attorney of an Will County sheriff's lieutenant accused of wrongfully killing a man to suspend his surviving sister's lawsuit until the criminal investigation is completed.

After six years, the godmother of 17-month-old Sema'j Crosby said, “I’m still heartbroken nothing has been done.”

The New Lenox Township supervisor was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in Homer Glen.

A 17-year-old teen charged with a triple homicide and attempted murder on March 5 in Bolingbrook was visibly distraught during his second court appearance, where he learned he was indicted and would be transferred to the adult jail facility next month.

A cold case investigator for the Will County Coroner's Office said the “game changer” for solving those cases has been Othram, a company that uses advanced forensic DNA testing and other technology to solve cold cases.

Jakeem Williams, 32, arrested near Elwood.

Webster Fisher was identified as the man whose body was discovered on July 30, 1980, in a wooden crate located at a Lockport power plant, according to the Will County Laurie Summers’ Office.

A man who was wrongfully charged with the murder of his 3-year-old daughter in Will County has died in a head-on crash in Arkansas, according to his attorney.