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Ross pleads not guilty to murder Man denies allegations involving woman’s skeletal remains found in his home By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
William J. Ross
WOODSTOCK – A McHenry man denied allegations that he murdered a woman whose skeletal remains were found in his home almost two years after she died. William J. Ross, 63, was living in unincorporated McHenry down the street from where the remains
of 49-year-old Jacqueline Schaefer were found by a maintenance worker. He first was charged with concealing a homicide and extradited from Las Vegas, and later indicted on first-degree murder charges. Authorities allege that Ross shot Schaefer and hid her body in a plastic bag and sealed the bedroom.
Ross has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Ross was free on bond on the concealment charge, but has been in custody of the McHenry County Jail since his re-arrest on the murder charge in July. He’s since been unable to post the $5 million bond required for his release. Schaefer’s decomposed body was identified through DNA test-
ing. It is alleged that she was shot on Sept. 11, 2011. Skeletal remains were discovered in the vacant home in November. Prosecutors haven’t commented on the evidence that allegedly ties Ross to the crime, but DNA samples were ordered at an earlier court appearance. He was arraigned Monday before McHenry County Judge Sha-
ron Prather. The judge told Ross that if convicted and should prosecutors be able to prove the crime was committed with a firearm, he could be sentenced an additional 25 years to life, on top of the 20 to 60 years he faces on the murder charge. Concealing a homicide is a Class 3 felony punishable by two to five years in prison.
Audit: Ill. overdrew Medicaid dollars
‘Very real’ Active shooter drill helps prepare faculty at Marian Central Catholic High School
Federal gov’t may have lost as much as $792K By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press
Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Police officers enter the cafeteria Monday in search of a suspect and victims during an active shooter training scenario at Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock. The Woodstock Police Department, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, the Woodstock Fire Department and Centegra Health Systems participated in the training session. TOP: An officer sweeps a hallway Monday during the active shooter drill. By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
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View video from the active shooter WOODSTOCK – For Spanish drill online at NWHerald.com. teacher Christi Dewispelaere, it was surreal to hear what sounded like gunshots outside her classroom Monday morning – it didn’t matter that it was just a drill. “Hearing the gunshots, I thought, was very real,” said Dewispelaere, a teacher at Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock. “I could feel the force of the shots.” What she heard was blank ammunition being fired from a starter pistol during an active shooter drill at the high school. Six months in development, the drill was conducted by the Woodstock Police Department,
along with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. Also participating were “players” from the Woodstock Fire Rescue Department and Centegra Health Systems. Woodstock Police Sgt. Jeff Parsons said crisis plans have long been in place at most schools, especially after the shooting in April 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado. The teachers institute day at Marian Central Catholic allowed for a more comprehensive exercise than usual, Parsons said.
Students were not in the building Monday, but teachers such as Dewispelaere still went through the motions. Lock the doors; turn off the lights; wait for an all-clear call. There was never any real danger, but Parsons said authenticity was key during the drill. From the call about 9:30 a.m. reporting fictitious gunmen and a possible bomb, to the treatment of injured victims, the atmosphere was meant to produce realistic levels of stress and intensity. “The bottom line, we want to make sure everything works,” Parsons said. “Without actual functional exercises like this, it’s very difficult to understand our
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See DRILL, page A4
The bottom line, we want to make sure everything works. Without actual functional exercises like this, it’s very difficult to understand our communication levels and working together as a team in this situation.” Jeff Parsons, Woodstock police sergeant
CHICAGO – Illinois used faulty methods for withdrawing federal Medicaid money, resulting in “a perpetual ‘treadmill effect’ ” of regular overdrafts that the state later had trouble repaying, federal auditors said in a report released Monday. The state’s withdrawals exceeded its actual Medicaid spending by an average of $60 million a quarter during the three years reviewed, according to the report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. The federal government may have lost as much as $792,000 in interest during fiscal 2010 through 2012 because the state repaid the money two to six months later, the report said. Meanwhile, Illinois used the money for other purposes. The state deposited the overdrawn Medicaid money directly into the state’s general revenue fund, the same fund used for transportation, education and pensions, the report said. The money was used to pay non-Medicaid expenditures because it was mixed in with other money in the fund. Federal rules require states to limit the amount of Medicaid transfers to what the states really need and to minimize the time states hold onto the money. A watchdog group called the report’s finding an example of Illinois’ irregular budget practices that have led to a multibillion-dollar pile of overdue bills. “The audit clearly points out that the state has used federal Medicaid dollars to mask other financial challenges and avoid cutting spending or increasing revenue” to balance the budget, said Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation, a Chicago-based policy analysis organization. But the report concluded that all the money obtained by Illinois was legitimately supported by state spending on the Medicaid program. That’s important, said Ralph Martire of the bipartisan Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. “It’s not like the state is trying to defraud the federal government,” Martire said, although he
See OVERDRAFTS, page A4
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