States Attorney
CHARGES FILED IN I-290 MURDER INVESTIGATION
WHEATON - DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett and agents from the Illinois State Police announced today that Jae Harrell, 24, (d.o.b. 12/5/82) of 15A Kingery Quarter, in unincorporated Willowbrook, has been charged with the murder of his mother Ruth Harrell, 59 (d.o.b. 11/26/47). Jae Harrell and his mother lived together at the home.
It is alleged that in the early morning hours of March 24, 2007, after an argument with his mother, the defendant struck her on the head with a blunt object and then strangled her to death. The murder is alleged to have occurred inside the victim’s vehicle as it was parked outside of her home. It is further alleged that the defendant then drove his mother in her car to a local school parking lot and left the car there with his mother’s body inside. It is further alleged that the defendant returned to the school to make sure his mother’s body had been discovered. Realizing the body had not yet been discovered, it is alleged that the defendant then drove his mother in her vehicle to the shoulder of I-290 approximately ¼ mile east of Independence and left the vehicle and his mother there. On Saturday afternoon, after returning from Chicago, the defendant telephoned the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office to report that his mother was missing.
The vehicle and Ruth Harrell’s body were discovered by an Illinois Department of Transportation worker shortly thereafter. An investigation by the Illinois State Police led to today’s charges. Harrell has been in custody since early Sunday morning as evidence gathered by the ISP was presented to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.
State’s Attorney Birkett praised the efforts of the Illinois State Police especially agents Rene Phillips, Todd Damasky and Tony Gentry, the DuPage County Sheriff’s detectives, the Chicago Police Department, the Westchester Police Department as well as Assistant State’s Attorney Audrey Anderson who aided in the investigation.
Mrs. Harrell worked as a registered nurse at the Westshire Nursing Home in Cicero. Widowed approximately 10 years ago, Mrs. Harrell has no other relatives living in Illinois.
First Degree Murder carries a minimum sentence of 20-60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Any one with further information is asked to contact the Illinois State Police at (847) 294-4600.
Members of the public are reminded that these complaints contain only charges and are not proof of the defendant’s guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial in which it is the government’s burden to prove his or her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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