55 years in prison for Illinois woman who admitted to killing boyfriend's parents
WOODSTOCK, Ill. (CBS) -- An Algonquin woman who pleaded guilty, but mentally ill to killing her boyfriend's parents was sentenced to 55 years in prison Thursday.
Arin Fox, 42, reached the plea agreement back in October – admitting to the 2020 stabbing deaths of Noreen and Leonard Gilard in their home at 635 Red Coach Ln. in Algonquin.
McHenry County Judge James Cowlin sentenced Fox Thursday, after a contested hearing where the evidence about the crime and the victim's background was heard.
Testimony at the hearing indicated that Fox had been living with the elderly victims as their caretaker at the time of the murders on Nov. 6, 2020. Noreen Gilard had been bedridden when she was murdered.
After committing the murders, Fox packed her belongings, stole cash and the victims' car, and drove to Littleton, Colorado in it, according to testimony as paraphrased by the McHenry County State's Attorney's office.
Fox checked herself into a psychiatric facility on the night of Nov. 7, 2020, and told a nurse she had harmed the victims, according to testimony. The victims were discovered on a wellbeing check.
Fox was extradited back to Illinois, and she was found incompetent to stand trial in October 2021. But she was deemed restored to fitness to stand trial in June 2022, prosecutors said.
Evidence sentencing hearing indicated that forensic experts found Fox knew her actions were wrong, and was legally sane at the time of the murders. It was also found that Fox harbored animosity toward the victims and couldn't wait to move from their home, prosecutors said.
Fox had a documented mental health history going back a long time, but she also had an extensive history of violence, criminal conduct, and substance abuse, prosecutors said. Her text messages in the days before the murder indicated that she was aggressively trying to obtain marijuana from a would-be roommate – who had failed to secure a rental property for them.
Fox will serve her sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections system, and will serve 100 percent of her sentence under Truth and Sentencing guidelines, prosecutors said.