Woman admits to concealing Palatine murder

Jacqueline Gallagher claims she wasn't in the room at the time of Jesse Beskow's murder, but she admitted to helping clean up the scene and dispose of the body of the 20-year-old from Island Lake. For that, the 21-year-old Round Lake Heights woman will spend three years in prison.

Gallagher, of the 2100 block of Prairie Trail, pleaded guilty to the concealment of a homicide Thursday and was sentenced to three years in prison.

The murder took place July 25, 2006, at a Palatine condominium where Gallagher was hosting a party with her boyfriend, Preston Cooper, of the 35000 block of Ravine Lane in Ingleside. Cooper, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Beskow, of Island Lake. Cooper remains in Cook County jail on a no-bond order.

Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Morley, in court in October, said Cooper showed a gun and threatened the victim with it. Witnesses later reported hearing a gunshot and seeing Cooper holding the weapon.

Morley said that after the shooting, Gallagher, Cooper and another man, who wasn't charged, loaded Beskow's body into the trunk of Gallagher's car, which she drove to the South Side of Chicago.

After the trio dumped the body, Gallagher and Cooper returned to the condo, where they tore up carpet and repainted walls in an effort to conceal evidence of the crime, Morley said.

Judge Thomas Fecarotta ordered the pregnant Gallagher housed in a prison hospital. She is scheduled to deliver her baby next week.

The case against Cooper is pending.