Police outline evidence in murder
Probation officers are expected to testify today in an attempt to try a former Waubonsie High School student as an adult for a murder he is accused of committing just weeks after he turned 14.
Marilyn Bethell, a 47-year-old substance abuse counselor who lived in Aurora, was reported missing Oct. 31, 2005, after her stolen Honda Accord was abandoned following a hit-and-run and she didn't show up for work in Hoffman Estates.
Police went to her house on the 2500 block of Quail Court on Aurora's far northeast side and found evidence of a break-in.
Bethell's body was found Dec. 26, 2005, near the Illinois Prairie Path by a man walking his dog. She was shot in the head.
The teen, who has a lengthy criminal history starting from when he was 11, faces 45 to 60 years in prison if convicted as an adult. If tried and convicted as a juvenile, he faces imprisonment in a youth facility until he turns 21. He turns 16 next month.
The teen was on home monitoring when the murder occurred, but authorities learned he left his home in the timeframe when Bethell was last seen and her car found.
Monday, Kane County sheriff's Detective Steve Reitmeyer outlined evidence against the teen: Semen found in a tissue in Bethell's home matches the teen's DNA; a forensic check on her computer showed several pornographic Web sites were viewed the evening before she disappeared; a person found the teen's high school ID in a backpack Oct. 30, 2005, near the path where Bethell's body was later found; and the teen tried to recruit an acquaintance to help him rob Bethell's home.
Authorities also found a Russian-made Tokarev pistol in the attic of the teen's home, which is less than a mile from Bethell's home. Reitmeyer said authorities had seen only one case in 10 years in which the model was used in the commission of a crime.
The DuPage County and FBI crime labs analyzed the bullet removed from Bethell and determined it most likely came from a Tokarev. However, Reitmeyer said, the bullet had deteriorated and it was impossible to match with the gun found in the teen's home.
Bethell lived in DuPage County, but her body was found in Kane County. Prosecutors from both counties are working together on the case.