Woman not guilty of murder by insanity to be held in Elgin

An Aurora woman found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2013 stabbing death of her cousin has been ordered held at an Elgin mental hospital.

Amy L. Zuniga, 46, recently was ordered for treatment at the Elgin Mental Health Center, 750 S. State St., by Kane County Judge Clint Hull until further notice, according to court records.

Zuniga was found not guilty this spring of the Oct. 4, 2013, stabbing murder of Reynaldo C. Galvan, 68.

Police were called to Zuniga's home on the 800 block of Front Street for a possibly suidicial subject and found Zuniga and her husband both with superficial stab wounds. Zuniga then took officers to the basement, where Galval was found on his back with a kitchen knife in his chest, police said.

According to an affidavit for a search warrant of Zuniga's home, she told arriving officers "I just killed my cousin" and later said in the emergency room at Presence Mercy Center in Aurora that "Jehovah is coming. I have been telling them this for a while. No one believes me."

Both defense attorney Kathleen Colton and Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon have said the verdict was a just and appropriate outcome.

Helping hand

CASA Kane County, which provides court-appointed advocates to neglected and abused children, recently received a $4,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley to buy a new workstation to be used in its expanded office at the Geneva courthouse.

The organization had to hire more staff and recruit more volunteers as it has served 532 children so far this year, which is an 11 percent jump from the same time in 2014.

"We are so thankful for the support of the Community Foundation," said CASA Kane County Executive Director Gloria Bunce. "The need was especially great this year as we hired an additional Advocate Supervisor and trained twice the number of new volunteers to support the CASA/(Guardian ad Litems) on the cases for our additional children."

Star pupil

St. Charles Police Cmdr. Erik Mahan recently graduated with honors from the School of Police Staff and Command at Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety in Evanston,

The school provides upper-level college instruction in 27 areas and he was one of 41 students to complete the course.

"We are very proud of Commander Mahan for achieving this accomplishment through Northwestern University," said St. Charles Chief James Keegan. "We encourage opportunities for continuing education for our officers and appreciate the application of the latest training to constantly help improve our department."

hhitzeman@dailyherald.com