Man Killed His Own Grandma: Joliet Arsonist Learns Sentence 6 Years Later

JOLIET, IL — After spending the past six years and five months in the Will County Jail reflecting on his actions that ended the life of his 87-year-old grandmother — a fire that led to her death at their Plainfield area home on Glacier Drive — Joliet arsonist William Vera pleaded guilty to her first-degree murder on Thursday.

Prosecutors at the Will County State's Attorney's Office told Patch after the court hearing that Vera was found guilty but mentally ill, and his total sentence was set at 23 years. The criminal complaint indicated the Joliet fire Vera was accused of intentionally setting caused more than $100,000 in damage to the house and caused the elderly woman's death.

The sentencing order shows that Vera will serve his 23-year prison sentence at 100 percent, meaning there is no day for day or good credit time at all. However, Vera does receive credit for time already served and that's a lot, it totaled up to 2,338 days inside Will County's Jail.

Back in 2019, Joliet Patch was in the courtroom when Vera, on his fifth day of incarceration at the Will County Jail, appeared for his bail hearing. That day, Vera informed the Will County courtroom he was admitting to setting the fire that killed his 87-year-old grandmother Teresa Collado at her two-story house, 1906 Glacier Ridge Drive, the previous Friday afternoon, March 22, 2019.

"I did this because I have a mental disability," the Will County prisoner blurted out during his 2019 courtroom hearing. Vera appeared in front of Will County Associate Judge Chrystel Gavlin through a video monitor at the downtown jail facility.

Back on March 22, 2019, Joliet's Fire Department rushed into the burning house and found the elderly woman on the second floor, where she had suffered severe burns. She was taken by ambulance to St. Joe's hospital, then airlifted to the Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, but she died several hours later.

The subdivision where the deadly fire happened is located on Joliet's far west side, near Plainfield, off Theodore Street.

The structure was destroyed and was deemed uninhabitable by Joliet's Fire Department at the time.

Prior to Thursday's plea and sentence, Vera had been charged with first-degree murder, multiple crimes of aggravated arson and criminal damage to property.