Schaumburg mom who killed disabled daughter found dead
Bonnie Liltz, the Schaumburg mother ordered to return to prison Monday for killing her severely disabled daughter in 2015, was found dead of an apparent suicide Saturday evening in her Schaumburg home, police said Sunday.
Liltz, 57, was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m. in the 1100 block of Springinsguth Road, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office, which said Sunday afternoon that the determination of cause of death is pending.
Schaumburg police were called to the home about 6:05 p.m. by a family member who went there after being unable to reach Liltz by phone, Sgt. Christy Lindhurst said.
"At this time were are conducting a death investigation," she said. "We did not find any evidence of any foul play and we believe it is a suicide."
Liltz spent Friday with family members and was last seen alive by them at 10 p.m. that night, Lindhurst said.
Last week, a Cook County judge ordered Liltz to report back to Illinois Department of Corrections to serve the rest of a four-year prison sentence she received after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 28-year-old daughter, Courtney.
Liltz on May 27, 2015, gave Courtney a fatal combination of prescription and over-the-counter drugs and then tried to kill herself. She later said that after battling cancer and other serious health issues, she thought she was dying and had no other choice.
After serving the first 73 days of her sentence, Liltz was released on bail while she appealed her prison term to the Illinois Supreme Court. The high court ultimately declined to hear the case.
Her attorney, Thomas Glasgow, said he was asking Gov. Bruce Rauner for a commutation. Liltz was scheduled for a hearing in front of the state's Prisoner Review Board in early January.
"I was hoping for a happy ending going before the governor," Glasgow said Sunday. "We had a very nice petition written. I'm just beside myself. This is not the way I wanted this to end. I wanted it to be a happy ending for everybody, and unfortunately it is a tragedy all around."
Glasgow said Liltz dropped from 98 to 84 pounds during her first stay in prison, and she feared she would die in prison if she had to return.
"We're not asking for a free ride or a pardon," Liltz told the Daily Herald last month. "To me putting me back into the Department of Corrections would be a death sentence. And I wasn't given that."