Appellate Court Affirms Natural Life Sentence in 1978 Double Homicide

WHEATON - DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph E. Birkett announced today that the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois has affirmed a Natural Life sentence for Billy Lee Warren, 57, (d.o.b. 3/13/1951) formerly of Stickney, for the 1978 double homicide of a Downers Grove couple.  Warren challenged both his conviction and the sentence he received in a Jury trial presided by Judge Ann Jorgensen.

On May 17, 1978, the bodies of Glenn and Betty Schulz, both 52 years old, of Downers Grove, were discovered by the Schulz’s son-in-law who arrived to pick up his two children, then ages two and five, who had spent the night at their grandparent’s home.  The hands and feet of the Schulzs had been bound and each had been stabbed multiple times.  The children were unharmed.  For 23 years the case remained unsolved until 2001 when the Downers Grove Police Department began re-interviewing witnesses.  It was at this time Warren’s alibi began to unravel.  On September 7, 2001, Warren was charged with the murders of Glenn and Betty Schulz.  In January 2005, Warren was found guilty by a jury of double homicide and on May 9 of that same year sentenced to Natural Life in Prison.

“I am very pleased with the Appellate Court’s decision to affirm Billy Lee Warren’s conviction and Natural Life sentence,” remarked Birkett.   “Glenn and Betty Schulz’s lives came to an unspeakable end when Mr. Warren savagely murdered them, stabbing each of them multiple times.  While the Schulzs are no longer with us, it is only fitting that the man who took their lives spends the rest of his behind bars, unable to cause any further harm to society.”      

Justice Grometer affirmed the sentence Warren received in DuPage County with Justices O’Malley and Zenoff concurring.

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