Woman Who Once Sparked Nationwide Missing Persons Case Now Sentenced For Shooting Husband

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — A suburban mother who once sparked a nationwide search after she and her two young children went missing is now set to serve 22 years in prison for shooting her husband.

Following the shooting on October 20, 2024, Aneta Marsek, 46, of Wonder Lake, told authorities an unknown intruder shot her and her husband, according to a news release from the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office. Marsek was also shot during the incident at a residential property in unincorporated Wonder Lake.

When emergency personnel arrived at the scene of the shooting, they found Marsek's husband with a serious gunshot wound. He told authorities Marsek shot him.

Both Marsek and her husband were taken to area hospitals. During an "exhaustive investigation," authorities found the gun used in the shooting, which was hidden by Marsek following the incident.

"Further forensic testing revealed conclusively that Aneta Marsek was the lone shooter" and that her injury occurred after she was disarmed by her husband, prosecutors said.

This past week, Marsek entered into a negotiated plea to aggravated battery with a firearm, a Class X felony, and has been sentenced to 22 years in prison, according to a news release.

The shooting is not the first time Marsek and her family have made headlines.

Thirteen years ago, Marsek and her children, who were 2 months and 2 years old at the time, went missing. Marsek, who was 33 years old at the time, vanished from her home in Volo with her young children.

Over the next week, a nationwide search for the mom and her children took place. Authorities did not pick up any credit card or cellphone activity for days, leaving many to think foul play may be involved in their disappearance, according to media reports.

On October 7, 2012, Marsek walked into a gas station in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and told an attendant to call 911 because she believed police may be looking for her. She then led police to her vehicle, where her two children were located, according to the news release.

Aneta told police she had been living in her vehicle in the secluded wooded area off of County Road H and Fitzgerald Roads since she had arrived in the Dells days earlier. She told authorities she went to the Wisconsin Dells area because she needed to "get away." She said the Dells area reminded her of "childhood memories."

Both of her children were taken to a hospital for an examination and found to be in good health and were later released into the custody of their father, Dan Marsek. Aneta was transported to Winnebago Mental Health Facility in Oshkosh, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office news release.

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