McHenry man guilty of murdering ex-girlfriend, sealing her body in bedroom

WOODSTOCK – Jurors on Friday found a McHenry man guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend, Jacqueline Schaefer, and entombing her body in a room in his home.

William J. Ross sat stoically, in the presence of Schaefer’s tearful family members, as the judge read the guilty verdict before a packed courtroom.

Jurors found that Ross shot 49-year-old Schaefer, who has been described as a petite woman with long blonde hair, in the left temporal lobe and spine sometime in 2011, sealed the bedroom with caulk, trim, paint, screws and nails, and then abandoned the home at 518 Country Club Drive after he continued to live there for several months.

The jury began deliberation about 11:05 a.m. Friday and returned with a verdict about three hours later.

John Schaefer, Jacqueline Schaefer’s father, said he didn’t know Ross before the trial. He said his daughter did not regularly keep in touch with the family, but said they are pleased with the verdict.

“She wanted to live her way, and we lived our way,” John Schaefer said outside the courtroom.

Tracy Flathau, Jacqueline Schaefer’s sister, said she is glad “it’s all done with.”

“Justice prevails,” she said.

Stephen Richards, Ross’ attorney, said he respects the jury’s decision but said Ross plans to appeal the verdict.

Ross was arrested in 2013 in Las Vegas and charged with concealing a homicide, but the Class 3 felony was dismissed before trial. In 2014, he was charged with murder.

Forensic pathologist Larry Blum previously testified that, to a “reasonable degree of scientific medical certainty,” two gunshot wounds were the cause of Schaefer’s death.

Her remains were found behind a sealed bedroom door by Ross’ friend, Renee Bitton, and her then-boyfriend, Jerome Mikos, on Nov. 6, 2013.

McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs said the defendant’s testimony Thursday was “pure science fiction.”

“He shot her like a mongrel dog, and he sealed up that room,” Combs said.

Ross, 64, who testified in his own behalf before the jury, said he did not deny that Schaefer was killed by someone. He said Schaefer had several enemies, as did he, including an ex-boyfriend, a Missouri motorcycle gang and even her family who he said wanted her dead for a life insurance policy.

He also said his friend and caretaker of the McHenry property, Bitton, “wasn’t very friendly at some times.”

Ross argued that someone may have killed Schaefer and planted his DNA found on the caulk between the sealed bedroom door.

“You don’t seal the door like a tomb if there’s not a body in there,” Combs said in closing arguments.

Combs said the last two dates that something was written in Schaefer’s academic planner and checkbook were in September 2011, indicating she may have been killed sometime in the fall of 2011.

He said Ross also made several purchases at Home Depot and Ace Hardware in June 2012 – items that included caulk, nails, duct tape and paint, according to receipt records.

“He was going to secure (the room) like a fortress,” Combs said.

Combs said if Ross didn’t kill Schaefer, then it makes no sense as to why he would buy these items and seal the door before leaving on a cross-country road trip.

Ross previously said in testimony that he traveled west in the summer of 2012 to visit friends because he was retired and “it’s something (he) always wanted to do.”

“He is a lying, liar,” Combs said. “Every time his lips move he is lying.”

Richards said in closing arguments that there was no blood spatter on the gun recovered at the crime scene, nor was there an eyewitness who saw Ross shoot Schaefer. He argued the state also did not prove Schaefer died from gunshot wounds, and therefore did not have a case for first-degree murder.

Richards said Blum testified that officials could have tested hair and bones to see if there were any indications Schaefer could have died from a drug overdose, but they made a decision not to do so.

He also said the state argued Ross was the one who sealed the bedroom based on his DNA on the caulk between the sealed bedroom door, but Richards said he was not being charged for concealing a homicide, and so that was not necessarily relevant.

Richards said the presence of Ross’ DNA in his own home is not strange because it’s where he lived.

Prosecutors have argued that the demeanor and responses given by Ross during police interrogations were those of an “intelligent, educated murderer” who had the time to calculate his answers before being questioned in Las Vegas in 2013.

Richards disagreed and said his actions were those of a “paranoid, embittered longtime alcoholic” who was innocent of the charges against him.

“He’s living in his own distorted world, and his actions are not rational,” he said.

Ross faces 20 to 60 years on the murder charge in addition to another 25 years to life because the jury found the crime was committed with a firearm.

Ross will remain in McHenry County Jail without bond until his sentencing Sept. 15.