Judge blocks jail release of Homer Glen father arrested after child’s suspected overdose death

A Will County judge blocked the jail release of a Homer Glen father and business owner charged with endangering his 2-year-old child who died from a suspected overdose death in what a prosecutor called a “million dollar home” that was completely “trashed.”

On Thursday, Judge Dan Rippy ruled that the pretrial release of Edward Weiher, 49, posed a “significant risk” to a surviving 6-year-old child, who apparently had fentanyl and heroin in her system, and Weiher posed a risk to the community as well.

Weiher is the owner of a machine shop in Frankfort called EWW Enterprise, he receives $50,000 per month from investments and his vehicles are worth $400,000 in total, according to court and state records.

Weiher is charged with felony endangerment of Trinity Balen-Weiher, 2, an offense that makes him eligible for detention under the pretrial provision of the SAFE-T Act. Weiher faces between two to 10 years in prison for that offense.

“At this point in time, we suspect that Trinity Balen-Weiher died of drug intoxication due to the amount of drugs and drug residue that was easily accessible to the toddler in the home. This has to be confirmed through testing that was completed by the Will County Coroner’s Office,” said Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Dan Jungles.

Weiher is also charged with possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor endangerment of the 6-year-old child.

Balen-Weiher and the 6-year-old child lived in a “million-dollar home” that Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Amanda Tasker said was in “complete and utter disarray,” with an exception of one area of the home where Weiher could play video games.

Tasker said the mattresses in Weiher’s home were too dirty for sleeping, there was tinfoil with heroin throughout the home and the residence was in “disgusting condition.”

Tasker said Weiher’s residence in the 12000 block of West Thorn Apple Drive in Homer Glen was a “very lovely home” that was “unfortunately trashed” by Weiher.

In Weiher’s affidavit of assets and liabilities, he reported the value of the home is $1 million.

The seller of the residence was the Robert J. Daly and Leberta A. Gentile Revocable Trust and the buyer was Weiher, trustee of the Edward Weiher Irrevocable Trust, according to property records dated Nov. 8, 2023.

The home was valued at $900,000 at the time.

As with Weiher, Alexa Balen, 27, the mother of the children, has also been charged with endangering Balen-Weiher and the 6-year-old child.

The parents of Balen-Weiher and the 6-year-old child allegedly admitted to using heroin, court records show.

Weiher reported to a pretrial services officer that he has been “smoking heroin on a daily basis for the last several years,” he has never been to a drug rehabilitation program, he has no mental health issues but he suffers from “allergies and asthma,” court records show. Weiher also reported he has a “fungal infection” in both of his legs.

Tasker said when Balen discovered Balen-Weiher was “limp” on Nov. 6 at their residence, she told Weiher about it but he said, “Oh no, it’s fine.”

Tasker said Balen spent time searching on Google for ways to stop a drug overdose without the use of Narcan, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses. But eventually the couple had to obtain Narcan for Balen-Weiher.

In court filings, Tasker said detectives found a “receipt from Walgreens of the Uber Narcan purchase.”

Yet Weiher was not applying the Narcan correctly, Tasker said. The couple waited about four hours before finally calling 911, Tasker said.

The couple initially gave responding deputies the impression that there was a carbon monoxide leak inside the home but there was no evidence to support that claim, Tasker said.

Tasker said Weiher, who is living off a trust, had every advantage to properly take care of his children and he “failed to do so.”

“He has absolutely no regard for human life,” Tasker said.

Balen has not been taken to jail because she was hospitalized for a medical issue that Jungles would not disclose for privacy reasons.

During Thursday’s court hearing, Andrew Sanchez, Weiher’s assigned public defender, argued for Weiher’s pretrial release because he was “not a real and present threat.”

Sanchez said Weiher could be released with conditions of home confinement, having no contact with the 6-year-old child and electronic monitoring. Weiher nodded at each of the conditions that Sanchez listed before Rippy.

Sanchez also said Weiher had medical issues that would not make him a flight risk.

Claudia Walkosz, a neighbor of Weiher and Balen, said she only saw Weiher once and never saw Balen or her youngest child. She said she saw “tons of packages” on their driveway that would sit out there long enough to get rained on.

Walkosz said she and her family were always wondering what was going on.

“We never would have suspected anything like this happening,” Walkosz said.

She said the death of Weiher-Balen was “so sad.”

Balen-Weiher and the 6-year-old child were under the guardianship of their maternal grandmother, court records show. Weiher was identified in court records as the biological father of Balen-Weiher while the 6-year-old had a father from New York.

On Aug. 11, 2023, the grandmother’s attorneys motioned to relocate the children to her home in South Dakota because Weiher provided her a residence where she could stay with the children but it was “equipped with cameras for Ed to [surveil] it.”

Weiher moved into the home himself and the poor condition of the home forced the grandmother to “move with the children to a hotel,” the motion claimed.

The grandmother’s motion said it was in the best interest of the children to have a “safe, stable, clean and mold-free home” in a place where she can “remain employed and provide for the children.”

On Dec. 5, 2023, Weiher’s attorneys petitioned to vacate grandmother’s guardianship by claiming she made “fraudulent misrepresentation” that she was going to live with the children in Illinois while he was allowed supervised visitation.

The grandmother withdrew her motion to relocate the children, Weiher’s motion to vacate the guardianship was withdrawn and the grandmother’s guardianship of the children remained in effect, according to a July 23 court order from Judge Derek Ewanic.

On Nov. 8, the day after Balen-Weiher’s death, Judge John Pavich motioned to suspend the guardianship of the children and he appointed an attorney for “purposes of investigation.”