Trial Delayed For Man Charged With Fatally Beating Girlfriend
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (STMW) -- The trial of an Antioch Township man accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend has been delayed from Jan. 6 until March 31.
Michael Axtell, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of Tammy Stone, 40, in October 2012.
It is the second time the trial has been delayed since summer, with some of the pretrial and trial delays related to the need for both sides in the case to have access to medical records and pathologist reports.
Stone was fatally injured after calling her 19-year-old daughter to tell her that Axtell had struck her in the eye at her home on Bond Avenue. The daughter arrived to find her mother with a swollen and black left eye.
According to Lake County Sheriff's reports, the daughter and Axtell got into a physical altercation regarding the mother's injuries and the daughter, who was not injured, began to leave through an attached garage area of the home expecting her mother to follow.
The daughter then heard a suspicious noise inside the home "like a bowling ball hitting the floor." She and two friends who had accompanied her to the home went back inside and found Stone unconscious.
Axtell left the residence on foot while 911 was called.
He was apprehended soon after and has remained in Lake County Jail in lieu of $3 million bond.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
