Joliet's Cemetery Murder: Anthony Harames 'Has Extensive History Of Mental Illness': Attorney

JOLIET, IL — Anthony Harames, the 34-year-old Joliet first-degree murder defendant who spent his first year of detention housed at an Elgin psychiatric treatment facility to restore his mental competency, is now working with his private defense counsel, Eric Mitchell, to obtain Will County funds to pursue an insanity defense.

Mitchell filed a motion last week for expert assistance at partial county expense. According to Mitchell's filing, Harames is charged with first-degree murder and has been in continuous custody of the Will County Jail since December 2021.

Harames "has an extensive history of mental illness and during the pendency of this case was restored to fitness," Mitchell's motion pointed out. "To ensure that the defendant receives a fair trial and representation, a sanity evaluation should be conducted in preparation for trial."

As Joliet Patch reported again this summer, after fatally stabbing 53-year-old Timothy Bokholdt at his uncle's house in the 900 block of Natoma Court, Harames loaded his uncle's body into a vehicle and drove to the Woodlawn Cemetery along West Jefferson Street, where he disposed of his uncle's body in the back of the cemetery in November 2021, according to Joliet police.

For several weeks, none of the visitors or maintenance staff at Woodlawn Cemetery realized Bokholdt's body was dumped at their sprawling cemetery, and nobody knew about Bokholdt's apparent murder except for his killer, according to officials.

Then, one month later, Harames engaged in a standoff with Joliet police that lasted several hours into the night, inside his missing uncle's house in the College Park subdivision. The next day, according to Joliet police, Harames led the detectives to the hiding spot where he put his uncle's slain body, at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Joliet police believe the homicide happened around Nov. 17, 2021. The uncle died from a stabbing inside his house on Natoma Court, Joliet police have said.

In last week's filing, defense attorney Mitchell pointed out his client "has accumulated $2,000 towards this sanity evaluation, but counsel for defendant has not been able to locate an expert that will conduct this evaluation for less than $3,000. Defendant has a financial instability to gather additional financial resources towards this end."

Mitchell's motion ended by informing Will County's judiciary that "the defense request that the County contributes a portion of these resources and this request is consistent with law. The Illinois Supreme Court held that courts have discretion to approve county payment for expert services when the defendant demonstrates genuine need and inability to pay."

Mitchell Legal Solutions is located in downtown Joliet at 54 N. Ottawa St.

As for Harames, he remains incarcerated under the old now-abolished Illinois cash bail system. His bail remains set at $4 million, meaning he and his family would need to post $400,000 cash in order for the Joliet first-degree murder defendant regain his freedom and rejoin the community.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

• Joliet Killer Waited 5 Days To Move Body To Cemetery: Prosecutors
• Woodlawn Cemetery Murder Revisited 1 Year Later
• Is Joliet Murder Defendant Anthony Harames Fit To Stand Trial?
• Joliet Killer Dumps Uncle's Body In Woodlawn Cemetery: Police