Highland Park Double Homicide Followed Financial Dispute Over Property, Prosecutors Say

WAUKEGAN, IL — The man accused of killing his two brothers and setting their mother's Highland Park home on fire appeared in court Wednesday in Waukegan for a preliminary hearing.

Jeff Austwick, 54, of Highland Park, faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the double homicide of Marc Austwick, 63, of Lake Forest, and John Austwick, 60, of Mundelein.

Austwick allegedly shot his two other brothers outside their late mother's home in the 1726 Park Avenue West early on the morning of June 5, days before her scheduled funeral.

Fire crews called to the burning house found Marc and John, already dead and about 15 feet from the west side of the house, authorities said.

Marc had nine gunshot wounds, John had four and both were partially wrapped in plastic and several matches were found nearby, making it appear someone had tried to set them on fire, according to a petition to deny Jeff Austwick's pretrial release.

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Shortly after firefighters extinguished the blaze, Austwick's car was spotted by a license plate reader camera in Plainfield, authorities said. He was arrested on a nationwide arrest warrant two days later in a park in downtown St. Louis, armed with a 9mm handgun.

Highland Park police were familiar with an ongoing dispute between the brothers regarding the younger Austwick paying rent on their mother's house to cover the cost of property taxes, prosecutors said.

Relatives of his older brothers, one of whom had discovered the prior day that Austwick had changed all the locks on the house, said they had been headed to the house to speak with him about paying rent prior to their killing, according to a petition for his detention.

Hours later, Lake Forest police got a call from someone who reported that an acquaintance told him that Jeff Austwick had come to his house and admitted that he had fatally shot his brothers. That acquaintance later made a statement to Highland Park police.

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Austwick waived his right to an extradition hearing from Missouri as well as his right to a detention hearing in Illinois, so Lake County Associate Judge Charles Johnson ordered him to be detained while awaiting trial.

The Austwick brothers' killings is the second double homicide in Highland Park since the 2022 parade shooting, where a gunman killed seven people and wounded dozens of others in the city's first murders in nearly two decades.

Jeff Austwick is due back in court for the continuation of his preliminary hearing on July 17.

Related:

• Man Wanted For Killing Brothers In Highland Park Had Gun Near Gateway Arch
• Man Shot His 2 Brothers, Set Highland Park House On Fire, Police Say
• Brothers Found Dead Outside Burning Highland Park Home Were Shot To Death, Coroner Reports