Slain Ex-Con Once Jailed For Riding Around With Mom and Brother to Buy Crack and Heroin

JOLIET, IL — An ex-convict slain the day he got out of prison, allegedly by his mom’s boyfriend, was once locked up for cruising for around for crack and heroin with his mother and a brother.

Nathan Hofkamp, 29, was gunned down last month at the Minooka home of his mother and her boyfriend, 65-year-old James Francis Hess, police said.

Hofkamp had been released from Vienna Correctional Center just 12 hours before he was killed. He was celebrating his new-found freedom with his mother, 51-year-old Kathy Hofkamp, and brother Kevin Hofkamp, 23, when Hess put a bullet in his chest, police said.

In June 2013, Nathan Hofkamp drove his mother and brother Adam Hofkamp, 31, to Park Forest to buy crack and heroin, according to a police report.

The police suspected the three Hofkamps had been involved in a recent burglary and an officer pulled over their Chrysler Concorde. By the time the cops stopped the car, Adam Hofkamp had already gotten out and made a run for it.

The cops found Adam Hofkamp hiding face-down on the ground in the woods a short time later. After he was taken into custody, Aam Hofkamp told the police about his day out with his brother and mother.

“He went with his brother and mother to purchase drugs in Park Forest and to get high,” according to a police report. “He usually does not leave the house because he knows he has a warrant. After they purchased drugs and they saw a police car he told Nathan to pull over so he can run because of his warrant.”

Kathy Hofkamp also admitted she went to Park Forest to buy drugs and get high with her sons, but explained she “often snorts heroin because after the death of her husband she became an alcoholic for a year,” the report said. “Kathleen stated she was prescribed a medication that made her clean for about four years prior to losing her medical insurance and being unable to afford the medication legally or illegally. Kathleen related that the detoxing from the medication she was taking was comparable to detoxing from heroin which caused her to start snorting heroin.”

Prior to telling this to the police, Kathy Hofkamp blamed her son Adam Hofkamp for the crack and crack pipe the cops found in the car, the syringe in her pants, and the pipe and straw in her shirt pocket.

“Kathleen spontaneously stated the items (police) recovered are her son’s, Adam Hofkamp,” the report said. “Kathleen related prior to being stopped by the police Adam fled the vehicle on foot northbound and she picked up the items and hid them upon her person because she did not believe the police would search her.”

Police also found heroin in the crack of Nathan Hofkamp’s buttocks. Later, during a strip search, an officer also “observed an object partially sticking out from his anus and Nathan recovered the object, a small ziplock bag containing an off white rock like substance, suspect crack cocaine, from his anus and turned it over” to police, the report said.

Kathy Hofkamp and her sons were taken to the Will County jail. Three days later, Kathy Hofkamp’s boyfriend at the time, identified in court records as Richard Rubinas of Monee, posted $4,000 cash bail for her release.

Kathleen Hofkamp’s son Adam remained in jail for more than six months before he pleaded guilty and was sent off to serve a three-year prison sentence. Nathan Hofkamp was in jail for more than eight months before he also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years.

Kathy Hofkamp pleaded as well. She got probation.

Kathy Hofkamp recounted her version of the night her son was killed in a petition for a protective order against Hess.

“We were all drinking,” she said. “My son Nathan said he will take some beers to the back with us and Jim disappeared downstairs and he shot off three shots down in the basement and then he came up and aimed the gun at all three of us and said now who’s not going to sleep. My son Nathan (went) around the wall to get the gun away from Jim and Jim shot him. I went for the house phone to call 911 and he came after me and grabbed me and scratched me on my lip and arm to get the phone away from me. I grabbed my cell phone and called 911 and ran to my son to stop the bleeding and talked to 911. Jim ran outside with the gun. The police showed up. Jim would not drop the gun and the police had him at gunpoint and then he gave up the gun and the police secured him.”

Hess was jailed on a charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm and was subsequently charged with first-degree murder. He remains free on $1 million bond.

From left to right: Nathan Hofkamp, Kathy Hofkamp and Adam Hofkamp | images via Will County Sheriff's Department