Woman said she lied for husband and took him to Mexico

The former wife of a man accused of killing a Barrington Hills couple in 1996 testified Thursday she lied to police about her husband's whereabouts the day of the murders.

Ros Hommerson also told the jury she helped Peter Hommerson escape to Mexico.

Ros Hommerson said her husband instructed her to say he had been with her for long portions of Jan. 23, 1996, when in fact he was not.

The statements were critical because police were focusing on Peter Hommerson as a suspect in the deaths of Marvin and Kay Lichtman, and the fire that destroyed their $1.5 million mansion.

Police questioned both Hommersons from the morning of Jan. 25 until 2 a.m. the following day, Ros Hommerson said.

As her husband had instructed her, she told them he had returned from the Lichtmans' house, where he was working, to their home in Algonquin for lunch. They then drove to a second home they owned in Woodstock later that afternoon, Ros Hommerson testified.

On Thursday, she said her husband had left Algonquin at 8 a.m. Jan. 23 and she did not see him again until after 7:30 that night.

Police searched both of their houses Jan. 26. That evening, Ros Hommerson testified, she and her husband drove to the St. Louis area.

They borrowed a car and $1,000 from Ros Hommerson's employer, she said, then drove straight through to Laredo, Texas where they both walked across the border into Mexico.

After walking down a street for about 30 minutes, she said, the couple agreed it was time to part.

"We said goodbye," she testified. "He said he loved me but he had to do this because the police would try to pin it on him."

Ros Hommerson returned to Illinois the next day, and about a month later told police about her lies and the trip to Mexico.

Peter Hommerson was arrested there in 2005.