Hammer Man Convicted Of Killing Wife Wanted Cops To Give Back Hammer

JOLIET, IL — The Romeoville Hammer Man wanted the cops to give back the hammer he used to club his wife in the head. He didn’t get it, but the police will have to return a different hammer and a bunch of other stuff they seized after finding his wife’s 10-day-old corpse back in 2010.

Just three months out of prison, 74-year-old John Sadler went before a Will County judge to ask for his hammer and other property back. Sadler had served 21 months at Dixon Correctional Center for bludgeoning his wife and hiding her rotting body in their Romeoville home.

Sadler will get back a different hammer, a pipe wrench, two computers, a shredder and two tool boxes. He withdrew his request for the hammer he hit his wife, Carol Sadler, in the head with, and also gave up on asking for the return of a pair of gold earrings — on the condition they go to a daughter.

A hearing will be held next month to see if Sadler can get his hands on a gold purse and a pair of eyeglasses.

Sadler, a retired accountant, was charged with murder in July 2010 after the cops found his wife’s body inside their Benzie Circle home. He was jailed following the grisly discovery and held on a $3 million bond.

But even though he reportedly admitted to police that he hit his 66-year-old wife in the head with a hammer, prosecutors reduced the charges after an autopsy revealed Carol Sadler actually died of a heart attack and not her head wound. She apparently suffered the heart attack mere moments before her husband clubbed her with the hammer.

John Sadler’s bond was reduced to $300,000. He promptly posted it and was released from custody.

Nearly five years later, John Sadler pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and concealing a homicide.

John Sadler had shot down an earlier deal offered by prosecutors, much to the chagrin of his daughter. The anguished woman shouted from the courtroom gallery to her father, telling him, “Take the deal, dad! My God, take the deal!”

John Sadler | image via Illinois Department of Corrections