Man Charged With Wife's Murder Must Be Freed From Jail, Lawyers Say: Here's Why

LOCKPORT, IL — Eric Strasser, a 62-year-old Lockport man, has remained inside the Will County Jail the past six weeks facing three counts of first-degree murder for the May 1, 2024, gunshot death of his wife, Rosy, but Strasser's time in the jail should come to an end, his team of private defense counsel is arguing.

Strasser has assembled a criminal defense team of two different lawyers, one being former long-time Will County Judge Dave Carlson of the Carlson Law Group, and the other being Naperville attorney Philip Nathe of the Law Office of Philip Nathe.

"The defendant, age 62, had no prior criminal history. He has never previously been the subject of an arrest and the charges currently pending are a complete abrogation to the life that he has led to this point in time," his defense attorneys argued.

Their petition seeking pretrial release for Strasser states that Strasser is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting and killing his wife, Rosy, after they had been married for about 10 years. The Strassers lived at 926 McKinley Court in Lockport, and "while the investigation was pending and up until his arrest ... the defendant remained at said residence," his defense attorneys outlined. "He has always lived in the suburban Chicago area."

Strasser graduated from high school and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1981 to 1985. Until his arrest in April, he remained gainfully employed, his lawyers noted.

"Though the offense is detainable under the statute, the state is still required to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant poses a specific, real and present threat to any person or the community or is a flight risk," Strasser's lawyers pointed out. "In addition, the state must show that pretrial release conditions would be inadequate to protect the public. While applying these factors to the defendant, Eric Strasser, it is clear that the defendant's petition for pretrial release should be granted."

Carlson and Nathe suggested that the Lockport murder defendant can be placed on GPS monitoring while his first-degree murder case is pending at Will County's Courthouse.

"The court can impose conditions that would mitigate the threat to and adequately protect the public," they wrote the judge.

Will County Judge Amy Christiansen has set the pretrial detention hearing for June 16 in her fourth floor Courtroom 402.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Will County Court, Eric Strasser called 911 at 6 a.m. May 1, 2024, and said he needed an ambulance because there was an accidental shooting.

When the operator asked what happened, Eric said, "can you please just get them over here?" and hung up, according to the complaint.

Lockport police arrived at 6:02 a.m. and found Rosy Strasser in the bathroom of the home with a gunshot wound. Paramedics arrived at 6:06 a.m. and noted that the approximate time of death was 3 a.m., according to the complaint.

Eric Strasser told the officers where to find the revolver used in the shooting. According to the complaint, the gun was on a counter several feet from Rosy and had been covered with a towel. The gun had been emptied, and the crime lab was not able to recover any fingerprints for comparison, the complaint noted.

An autopsy also revealed there was no evidence of close-range firing of the gun. Rosy had several abrasions, lacerations and bruises on her body, according to the complaint. A friend said the lacerations and marks on her body had not been there a day earlier, on April 29, prosecutors said.

Eric also had cuts on his face, fingers and arms, and would not tell Lockport police any information about Rosy's death, prosecutors outlined in the complaint.

Divorce proceedings for the couple had started in January, the complaint states. According to the complaint, Rosy was doing well at work and had received a promotion, had a boyfriend, and had plans to move out of the home and to a new town.