Judge Denies Bond For Will County Inmate Charged In In-Law Attack

WILL COUNTY, IL — A judge on Thursday denied bond for a Wisconsin man who has been in custody at the Will County Jail since the winter after authorities said that he attempted to kill his in-laws at their Crete home.

Michael Liu, of Oak Creek, Wis., has been held on $1 million bond since he was arrested in December and charged with various crimes related to the attack on the Will County couple, including attempted murder. Liu has since been charged with additional crimes after police said that he had jailhouse conversations in February about hiring a hitman to kill witnesses who may have witnessed the attack.

Liu was also charged with causing damage to government property after police said he damaged the sprinkler system in his jail cell while he was bored, police said.

An assistant public defender argued in court on Thursday that bond on the charges associated with the new charges involving his discussions with inmates to have witnesses killed should be combined with the current bond.

But Assistant State’s Attorney Katie Rabenda argued that the public defender’s request should be denied, citing the fact that nothing surrounding Liu’s case has changed. The Daily Southtown reported that Liu had been employed as a director of engineers prior to his arrest following the attack on his in-laws, but has since lost his job.

In Thursday’s hearing, Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak agreed with prosecutors and denied the public defender’s motion.

Liu faces charges of attempted first-degree murder in the attack in Will County, along with home invasion, aggravated discharge of a firearm, residential burglary, aggravated assault, domestic battery, and trespassing.

Police said that Liu stabbed his in-laws multiple times after he attempted to shoot the couple from outside of their home. Police said he broke into the home and attempted to shoot them again, but police said the gun he had failed to fire, which prompted him to stab the couple instead.

The attack came after Liu was scheduled to turn himself in to police in Wisconsin on an unrelated domestic battery conviction, but instead traveled to Will County to carry out the attack on the Crete couple, police said. In February, Liu was charged again after deputies said he had conversations with Will County inmates about paying $20,000 to have witnesses associated with the attack killed.