Report details conditions McHenry Co. child killer would face if released

A convicted child killer locked up for nearly five decades would move to Rockford and live under home confinement, at least for a while, if a McHenry County judge orders him released, according to a state report filed in court Thursday.

The Department of Human Services report lists 37 conditions it would require Gary Welsh to abide by, including possible GPS monitoring, a ban on contact with children and requirements he undergo sex offender treatment.

The 14-page report outlines what would happen to Welsh, 70, if a judge follows a DHS recommendation next month and allow him free for the first time since he raped and murdered a 3-year-old girl. Judge Sharon Prather initially balked on the recommendation in December, but said she would reconsider after she saw how the agency would deal with Welsh if he is let go.

The Illinois Attorney General's office has consistently objected to Welsh's release, and likely will do so again when the case goes before Prather March 18.

Welsh initially was set to go free in December 2004 after spending 42 years in state prisons and mental institutions after he sexually assaulted and killed a 3-year-old Harvard girl he was baby-sitting. Authorities said Welsh suffocated the victim by pushing her face into a pillow as he raped her.

The state blocked his release in 2004 by having Welsh declared a sexually violent person, allowing the DHS to keep him in custody until its doctors and a judge agreed he was not too dangerous to go free. DHS doctors now believe Welsh, though still a pedophile, is not a threat to harm others.

If released, according to the DHS plan, Welsh would live in one of seven available apartments in Rockford while receiving treatment and being monitored through two facilities that deal with sex offenders. For at least a while he would be allowed to leave the apartment only for treatment, employment or other approved activities.

He would not be allowed to operate a vehicle, visit schools, parks, theaters or bars, own a home computer, go online, view pornography or use alcohol or drugs.

Any violation, according to the report, could land Welsh back in state custody.