Shorewood parents speak out after daughter stabbed to death in Joliet

A Shorewood couple spent part of Mother’s Day looking at Facebook videos of their dead daughter instead of enjoying family time on their pontoon boat.

Joliet police say Melissa Aud-Headlee, 35, was killed by her estranged husband, Michael “Mikey” Aud-Headlee, 32, of Carmi, in a murder-suicide Saturday.

Bill and Carol May of Shorewood said they purchased the Joliet house where the deaths happened for their daughter Melissa. All she wanted to do for Mother’s Day was enjoy the boat, Bill May said.

The couple had celebrated Melissa’s 35th birthday Friday. Now their only contact with their daughter and mother of three children – ages 9, 8 and 3 – was through her videos she intentionally left as a legacy for her children, Bill May said.

“I did this all morning [Sunday], just to hear her voice,” Bill May said.

At 11:10 a.m. Saturday, Joliet police responded to the 3400 block of Pandola Avenue after receiving a report of a woman being stabbed in the street.

[ Joliet police investigating murder/suicide ]

When officers arrived, Melissa was lying in the street with multiple stab wounds to the chest, and Mikey was lying in the driveway of the the home, also with multiple stab wounds to the chest, according to police.

During their preliminary investigation, Joliet police learned Mikey was armed with a kitchen knife and chased after Melissa, stabbing her multiple times in the chest once he caught up with her. He then stabbed himself in the chest multiple times, police said.

Joliet police said the couple’s 3-year-old child was in the house at the time and was unharmed. The Department of Children and Family Services was contacted, as required by Illinois law.

“Our story is a story of probably many women that have been victims of abusive boyfriends or husbands. You just never think it’s going to happen in your family. You just read about it and think, ‘How horrible.’ You just don’t think it’s going to come home and into your backyard.”

—  Bill May of Shorewood, father of Melissa Aud-Headlee of Joliet, who was murdered on Saturday

Bill May said he talked on the phone to Melissa on Saturday morning shortly before her death. Melissa was full of high spirits, he said. Relatives were spreading mulch in the garden of the home the Mays had bought for her.

Melissa also was excited about the $2,000 bonus she was to receive at work because of a big sale she recently closed at her new job, Bill May said.

That joy was broken when the Mays received a call saying Mikey was stabbing Melissa in the street.

Bill May said he and his wife jumped into the car and drove the few miles to their daughter’s home just in time to see the ambulance “charge away.”

“We saw her blood in the street,” Bill May said.

“And her shoes,” Carol May said.

“And her car keys,” Bill May said.

The couple went to Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet and waited what they called “an eternity” to hear the news. Bill May said he knew “it was bad” when a doctor and a chaplain came into the room.

For now, the couple is struggling to process the fact that their daughter is dead and that Mikey’s death means they will never see justice.

“It doesn’t seem real,” Carol May said.

It’s also unfair, considering Melissa had overcome so much, the Mays said. Melissa had struggled with drug addiction and was arrested in 2012 on drug-related charges.

In 2017, Melissa went into recovery and in early 2019, moved to a three-quarter house, Carol May said. That’s when she met Mikey, who also had gone through recovery and was living in a nearby three-quarter house.

Carol May said Mikey had reportedly gotten into “meth” (methamphetamine, a synthetic addictive stimulant), gone to prison for assaulting a police officer and then into rehab for the addiction.

Melissa and Mikey were married in September 2019, Bill May said. Although Bill May said he did not like Mikey, he said he thought, “OK, well, she’s seeing something in him that I don’t.”

Rehab did wonders for Melissa, the couple said. She was working, attending church and “was a great mom” to her children.

Bill May said that while Melissa took pride in giving her children a nice home, she wasn’t materialistic and would rather “take the kids to the park than wipe a table.”

“Her priority was her kids,” Carol May said.

So when the alleged abuse began, Melissa hid it from her parents, Bill May said.

“She didn’t want to feel like a failure, is what she told me,” Bill May said. He said he assured his daughter that she’s not a failure if she’s “getting beat up.”

Carol May said abuse is not something a “rational person” would do.

“You can’t be more evil that that – when you hit a woman or someone smaller than you,” Bill May said.

The couple expressed frustration over their daughter’s arrest in July 2023 for domestic battery, saying it’s their understanding Melissa bit Mikey’s hand while defending herself.

Including the incident from last Saturday, police had responded nine times to incidents associated with Melissa and Michael, according to Joliet police Sgt. Dwayne English. He said the police department did not have any investigations of the allegations included in Melissa’s protective order petitions against her husband.

English said from what he could tell, the department never arrested Michael Aud-Headlee.

Bill May said he now wants to get involved – in some way, he’s not sure how – in helping to prevent domestic violence against women.

“Our story is a story of probably many women that have been victims of abusive boyfriends or husbands,” Bill May said. “You just never think it’s going to happen in your family. You just read about it and think, ‘How horrible.’ You just don’t think it’s going to come home and into your backyard. And it’s just – boy, oh boy! Hug your kids because you just don’t know.”

Joliet police are still investigating the deaths of Melissa and Mikey. The Will County Coroner’s Office will determine the final cause and manner of death following autopsy, police and toxicological reports.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been started for Melissa’s children. To donate, visit gofund.me/3ac408d9.