Joliet Murderer From The 1990s Arrested By Joliet Police This Week, Forest Preserve In October

JOLIET, IL — Philip Matthew Hastings, a 62-year-old Joliet man who spent several years of his life imprisoned for a 1994 murder that was the topic of several Chicago Tribune newspaper articles, is back in trouble with law enforcement. This week, Joliet police arrested Hastings and put him back in Will County's Jail. This marks his second stint in the Will County Jail since Oct. 25.

According to Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English, Hastings was arrested this week on charges of failing to register or give false information under the Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act. "Hastings is required to register annually with the Joliet Police Department as a result of a murder conviction in April of 1996," English announced. "He failed to appear for his annual registration at the Joliet Police Department on October 29, 2025."

English said his agency's detectives secured an arrest warrant for Hastings on Nov. 10. Hastings was placed into custody without incident at 10:39 p.m. Nov. 10 after officers located him at a hotel on McDonough Street. He was processed at the Joliet Police Department and transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.

The Illinois Murderer Registry, which is not nearly as well known as the sex offender registry, now lists Hastings as being compliant. The Illinois State Police website is listing Hastings as living in Joliet at the Comfort Inn near the Louis Joliet Mall.

However, several Will County court files from October list Hastings as residing in the 200 block of East Cass Street. Hastings is listed as a lifetime registrant, and the Joliet Police Department is listed as his registering law enforcement agency. His original registration date is listed as July 20, 2020. Hastings was 31 years old when he committed the crime of murder in Joliet, the registry noted.

According to a 1996 Chicago Tribune article, a Will County jury heard evidence in the murder trial of one of two Joliet men accused of stabbing another man to death and throwing his body into a quarry in 1994. Hastings, the man on trial, and Robert Murphy, who was awaiting trial, had accused each other of killing Keith Marion on Nov. 19, 1994, and then dumping his body into the quarry, the Tribune reported.

Prosecutors told the jury that Hastings, then 33, “made a videotaped confession” in which he admitted stabbing the man when interrogated by police in August 1995. The Chicago Tribune story indicated that the murder victim's body was dumped into a quarry at Brandon and Patterson Roads, and was discovered the next day amid some garbage bags.

Hastings Previously Convicted Of Failing To Register As a Murderer

In December 2022, Hastings was sentenced to three years and six months at the Illinois Department of Corrections for failure to register as a murderer.

"Defendant was required to register under the Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act. Officers discovered that defendant was living in a tent in the area of Moen Avenue and Joliet Junction Trail in Rockdale, Will County, and that he failed to comply with registration requirements," prosecutor Deborah Mills wrote.

Hastings' murder conviction resulted from a 1995 filing in Will County, and he drew a 50-year prison sentence, Mills noted.

Just last month, Hastings was involved in several legal matters at the Will County Courthouse, including four new criminal charges from the Will County Forest Preserve District Police.

Hastings Has Issues With Other Tent City Residents

Separately, Hastings was involved in back-and-forth orders of protection involving people who apparently live around him at Joliet's long-time homeless encampment called Tent City.

"Philip tried to run me over with his vehicle. I called the police, and he was arrested two-three days later. No further incidents," wrote a 46-year-old man from Tent City in his Oct. 14 court filing.

Back on Aug. 18, Hastings filed his own order of protection against a different man at Tent City.

In Hastings' filing, he wrote that on Aug. 15, "I was at my campsite, in my van, Michael came banging on my window telling me to go clean up something that wasn't mine. He threatened with 'burning everything down, even your van,'" Hastings informed Will County's judges. "He grabbed my bike and arm and demanded I clean that place up. I got away but ran into him again later. Same day, later on, I ran into him and he started to verbally abuse me. He walked up to me and attacked me. I fell over. Someone called the police. Police spoke to both of us. I know he is an alcoholic and drug addict."

On Oct. 2, the Will County Forest Preserve Police busted Hastings at the Old Plank Road Trail parking lot on Joliet's east side. The Will County State's Attorney's Office then filed four criminal charges against Hastings on Oct. 15.

According to the criminal complaint, Hastings unlawfully possessed an Illinois license plate belonging to a woman for her Volkswagen, on Oct. 2. The second charge indicates Hastings had cocaine in his possession. His third charge, unlawful display of a license plate, indicates Hastings knowingly displayed a license plate on his Ford Windstar Minivan that was not authorized by law for use on such vehicle.

His fourth charge was for possession of drug paraphernalia. That charge indicates that Hastings, also on Oct. 2, possessed a pipe "with the intent of using it in ingesting a controlled substance into the human body."

Hastings was kept the Will County Jail for four days, Oct. 25-28, for his Will County Forest Preserve charges. This week, following his Joliet police arrest, Hastings was jailed Nov. 11-12.

One thing of note: Hastings uses two different dates of birth, the Illinois State Police murderer's registry highlighted. His real date of birth is Jan. 24, 1963. But he often uses Jan. 24, 1964, according to the registry. When Will County Forest Preserve Police gave him citations for the cocaine possession and drug paraphernalia on Oct. 2, the officer put down his date of birth as Jan. 24, 1964.