Arrest Made In Illinois Double Homicide Of Elderly Mother, Son

DeKALB COUNTY, IL — Authorities in Ohio arrested a man Monday in the August 2016 killings of an elderly woman and her son near Sycamore, the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday.

According to a news release by the sheriff's office, Jonathan D. Hurst, 51, formerly of the 1440 block of North Wells Street in Chicago, was arrested on charges of first-degree murder in Cincinnati, where he currently lives.

The sheriff's office said Hurst is being held at the Hamilton County Jail and is awaiting extradition back to Illinois in connection with the deaths of Patricia A. Wilson, 85, and Robert J. Wilson, 64.

Authorities believe the mother and son were slain during the late evening hours of Aug. 14, 2016. Both died of blunt force trauma. Their bodies were found the next day about 5:56 p.m. after the sheriff's office was called to their home at 16058 Old State Road in rural Sycamore.

>> Timeline of Sycamore Double Homicide

Police believed that whoever killed the two forced their way into the home before fleeing in Patricia Wilson's 2010 Chevrolet Impala. The car was found during the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 2016, on North Stockton Avenue in the area of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Related:

• DNA-Inspired Sketches Released In 2016 Double Murder
• Elderly Mother, Son Died of Blunt Force Trauma in Beating Death

The sheriff's office said it has followed up on more than 1,300 leads, logged thousands of hours and executed more than 48 search warrants for items such as video/DVD recordings and phone records, as well as searching the victims' house. The significant amount of DNA collected at the scene was analyzed by the Illinois State Crime Lab to develop a complete DNA profile of the killer, authorities said. That profile continues to be checked biweekly in state and national databases.

The DNA profile was also used to eliminate several persons of interest in the case, police said.

A private lab, Parabon, completed DNA phenotyping to provide predictions of the killer's appearance, according to the news release. On the two-year anniversary of the killings, the sheriff's office released photos provided by Parabon that show what the killer in the unsolved case could look like at age 18, 25 and 40 with an average body mass index.

The sheriff's office said Tuesday that detectives and Parabon continued to investigate the
genealogical side of this case, searching public genealogy databases in an effort to narrow
the scope of the DNA profile and building a family tree that eventually led to Hurst.

"This work took an extraordinary amount of effort and a significant amount of time to locate this offender, and through this effort approximately one week ago, a solid lead was identified using this unique profile along with continued diligent investigative techniques that led us to make this announcement today," the sheriff's office said. "We were also able to confirm through cell phone records and other evidence that he was in the area of the crime on the day of the murders and also that the vehicle that was stolen from the house was located in Lincoln Park, which was a short distance from where he lived on Wells Street in Chicago."

Police said they do not believe Hurst knew the Wilsons and called the killings "a random act of violence."

The sheriff's office said that their hearts and prayers remain with the members of the Wilson family who have "remained patient and given their unwavering support of the sheriff's office during this complex investigation."

"We hope that they may attempt to start the healing process as we hold Jonathan Hurst accountable for the murders of Robert and Patricia Wilson," the sheriff's office said.

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