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MT.Times MORRIS
April 26, 2018 Volume 51, Number 28 - $1.00
Hawk Track Classic
Spring is Here!
Byron Bar Destroyed
OHS’ Landers-Loomis Field will host several top area track teams this Friday. B1
Check out our Spring Home & Garden pages A9, 10
The Cave, a bar & grill in downtown Byron, is destroyed by a fire. B3
Police still investigating arson and double homicide By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com Ogle County detectives are continuing to investigate an arson and double homicide that occurred in Byron a year and a half ago, but no arrests have been made. Lt. Brian Ketter, investigations commander for the Ogle County Sheriff ’s Department, said Tuesday that he and his team are still following leads into the deaths of Margaret “Maggie” Meyer, 31, and her three-year-old son, Amos, on Oct. 19, 2016. The second annual Infinity Run event, held in memory of the two by the Maggie & Amos Foundation,
will be Saturday, April 28 at Chana Education Center in Chana with activities starting at 3 p.m. Meyer was a teacher at the Chana Education Center, and the goals of the foundation include helping to support educational grants for local teachers for classroom projects and libraries, and scholarships to support undergraduate and graduate students going into the field of special education. Meyer was found dead on a couch on the first floor of her burning home at 2020 N. Silverthorn Drive, and her son Amos was pronounced dead a short time later at Rockford Memorial Hospital. “Officially it’s still an active
investigation,” Ketter said. He said detectives are determined to solve the case, but declined to give further details. The fire was reported around 6:40 a.m. by Meyer’s ex-husband, Duane C. Meyer, 35, of Stillman Valley, who told officials he was there to pick up his son. The couple had been divorced about a month earlier. When firefighters arrived, smoke alarms were sounding, the house was filled with heavy smoke, and Duane Meyer and a Byron police officer were on the lawn performing CPR on Amos, who had been in an upstairs bedroom.
Amos and his father were taken to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where the little boy was pronounced dead. An autopsy at the Winnebago County Coroner’s office showed he died of smoke inhalation. Police have not released the cause of Meyer’s death or the fire started. A representative from the State Fire Marshal’s Office determined the fire was an arson while he was at the scene. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Ogle County Sheriff ’s Office at 815-732-2136 or Ogle Lee Crime Stoppers at 888-228-4488.
Amos and Maggie Meyer
Mongan takes plea deal in boating death By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com An Oregon man accepted a plea offer March 19 and pleaded guilty to the least serious of the several felonies he was charged with in the death of a Rockford woman in a boating accident two years ago. Marc Mongan, 47, pleaded guilty in Ogle County Court to reckless conduct causing great bodily harm, a Class 4 felony. He had been charged with seven felonies, including drunk driving, in the death of Megan Wells, 31, on June 24, 2016. The accident occurred on the Rock River three miles north of Oregon when the johnboat he was operating struck Wells as it went over the back of the pontoon boat she was riding in, throwing her overboard, investigators said. Special prosecutor David Neal, from the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Monday’s spring-like warmth and sunshine gave Jerry Griffin the perfect opportunity to till up space to plant potatoes. After Prosecutor’s office, read the a record cold April so far, the low 70s were a welcome change. Photo by Vinde Wells charge which said Mongan was operating his boat “at a faster than reasonable speed” when the crash occurred and failed to “give way” to the pontoon boat. Defense attorney David By Vinde Wells Tess, Rochelle, said Mongan vwells@oglecountynews.com was pleading guilty to the one count and all others would be Oregon’s Super Dollar Store is going out of dismissed. business. The charges against “Sales are down, and we’re pursuing other inMongan included one count terests,” said owner John Rosauer on Tuesday. of aggravated driving while “It’s time to turn the page and move onto anothunder the influence of alcohol, er chapter.” a Class 2 felony; three counts He said he bought the store, at 312 W. Washof reckless homicide, all class ington St. in Oregon’s downtown, approximate3 felonies; and three counts of ly 20 years ago. reckless conduct, all Class 4 Rosauer and his sister Sherrie, both Oregon felonies. natives who now live in Belvidere, own Rosauer Judge John Redington set Ventures, Inc., which at one time included 11 Mongan’s sentencing for June Super Dollar Stores in Illinois and Iowa. 19. Oregon store manager Debbie Wigginton, Jury selection for the trial who has worked there for 12 years, said the had been set to begin on April store will not close immediately. 23. “We’re not sure when it will close,” she said. Prior to the announcing the “It’s going to be several months. We’re thinking plea deal, Tess filed a motion The Super Dollar Store in downtown Oregon is closing and the building is for for a continuance of a 402 Turn to A3 sale. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Spring...At Last!
Oregon’s Super Dollar Store closing
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Library News, A3
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4
Sheriff’s Arrests, B4 Social News, A4 Sports, B1. B2 State’s Attorney, B3
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
conference held on March 17. Attorneys for both sides then met with Redington in his chambers for 45 minutes, and then the attorneys and Mongan conferred for another 25 minutes outside the courtroom before announcing that the plea offer had been accepted. Attorney Cynthia Koroll, Rockford, who is representing Wells’ parents, David and Robin Swaziek, Loves Park, as crime victims, objected to the plea deal. “I can’t tell the state not to dismiss charges, and I can’t tell Mr. Mongan not to plead guilty,” Redington told her. He said the Swazieks and other family members will have an opportunity to give their impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Wells’ mother sobbed softly when Neal announced that Mongan would change his previously not guilty plea to guilty. After the hearing, Wells’ father spoke to the press. “It’s been such a tremendous journey. We always felt the cards were not dealt in our favor, but we kept fighting. We just wanted justice all along,” he said. “Today he pled guilty to a felony charge that he took her life. To hear him finally say ‘I’m guilty’ was bittersweet.” Swaziek said he would have preferred the case would have been decided by a jury. “We would like the maximum penalties,” he said. “This has greatly affected our family and Megan’s kids. There should be consequences.” Wells was the mother of three young children. Neal said Mongan could be sentenced to up to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections with a year of mandatory supervised release, and fined up to $25,000. “When I was first assigned this case and I reviewed the
Deaths, B5 June L. Andrew Brian R. Horton
Turn to A3