Jonathan Hurst arrested for 2016 Sycamore double murder

ByAlexis McAdams WLS logo
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Man arrested for 2016 double murder in Sycamore
A man has been arrested in connection with the double murder of an elderly woman and her son in Sycamore in 2016.

SYCAMORE, Ill. (WLS) -- A man has been arrested in Ohio in connection with the double murder of an elderly woman and her son in Sycamore in 2016.

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday that Jonathan Hurst, 51, was arrested in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday and is in the process of being extradited on two counts of first degree murder.

A man has been arrested in connection with the double murder of an elderly woman and her son in Sycamore in 2016.

Hurst is accused of murdering 85-year-old Patricia Wilson and her son, 64-year-old Robert Wilson, in Sycamore in August of 2016.

The Wilsons were last seen at church on August 14, the morning of the day police believe they were murdered. After church, police said they ate breakfast with friends at approximately 10:30 a.m. Robert then took his mother home and went to the Sycamore Moose Lodge around 12 p.m. He left at approximately 4:30 p.m., police said, and returned home. Patricia spoke to a relative at 7:43 p.m. on August 14.

Police said sometime that evening Hurst beat Patricia and Robert to death, then stole the family's car and drove back to Chicago where he lived.

The Wilsons' white Impala was recorded by a traffic camera at 12:44 a.m. on August 15, 2016, traveling east on Illinois State Route 64 at Route 59, police said. Police were called for a death investigation at the home at 6 p.m. on August 15, 2016.

Patricia Wilson's car was found abandoned near the Lincoln Park Zoo on August 24, nine days after the murder.

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office said they enlisted the help of a private laboratory called Parabon to create a DNA profile, which was checked with public genealogy databases and led to the suspect. Police said cell phone records and other evidence confirmed that Hurst was in the area of the crime on the day of the murders.

Investigators have not said why Hurst killed the Wilsons. Police said he did not even know them.

Hurst recently moved back to Cincinnati, where friends said he grew up. His old co-worker at a bar in Chicago, who worked with him around the time of the murders, said he was always a nice guy with a big heart.