Investigators searching for suspect in killing, robbery of bar owner
The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office released this image of a man in connection with a homicide, Feb. 2, 2026, in rural Momence near the Illinois/Indiana border. (Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office)
(MOMENCE, Ill.) — Investigators are searching for a man believed to be behind the fatal shooting of a rural bar owner in Momence, Illinois.
Courtney Drysdale, 30, was pronounced dead at a bar near the Illinois-Indiana state line on Monday shortly before noon, according to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators have released photos of the suspect and his vehicle that were captured by security footage at the bar.
Deputies responded to a report of a possible dead individual and classified the incident as a homicide based on evidence gathered during a preliminary examination on Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Drysdale was preparing to open the bar just before 11 a.m. when a suspect entered the bar and brandished a firearm, demanding money from the cash register, Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said at a press conference Tuesday.
Despite Drysdale’s cooperation, the suspect allegedly shot her twice “execution style,” Downey said.
Before fleeing the scene, the suspect attempted to remove what he believed was a digital recording device from a wall, but investigators were able to recover video evidence, Downey said.
No one else was in the bar at the time of the killing, Downey said.
The suspect was seen leaving the scene with a firearm and is believed to be armed and dangerous, according to Downey. The suspect was last seen traveling east toward Indiana in a white Ford or BMW sedan, with a sunroof and “distinctive dark rims,” Downey said.
Investigators are reviewing footage from the bar to determine if the suspect had previously been to the bar, according to Downey.
A $5,000 reward is being offered to anyone who can help positively identify the person or vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. Anyone who sees the suspect is asked to keep their distance and contact authorities.
Anyone who has information related to the murder is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at (815) 932-7463.
“Courtney was deeply loved not only by her family and her young daughter, but also by the many patrons and friends whose lives she touched,” Downey said.
“We are fully committed to bringing the person responsible to justice,” Downey said.
Photo of Richins Family posted on Eric’s Facebook account. (Eric Richins/Facebook)
(NEW YORK) — Kouri Richins, a Utah woman accused of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl, who self-published a children’s book on grieving following his death, has been found guilty of murder following a weekslong trial.
The Summit County jury began deliberating late Monday afternoon before reaching a verdict after about three hours. She was found guilty on all five counts, including aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.
Kouri Richins looked down and remained still while the judge read out each guilty verdict. Her sentencing has been scheduled for May 13.
During closing arguments earlier Monday, prosecutors alleged that the mom of three was obsessed with appearing “privileged, affluent and successful” and killed her husband to help pay the debts of her floundering home flipping business and to get a “fresh start.”
The defense, meanwhile, said the case was “sloppy” and “driven by bias” and argued that the state failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
Kouri Richins, 35, was charged with aggravated murder in connection with the 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins, following a lengthy investigation. Prosecutors allege she spiked his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl that she purchased illicitly after asking two people for the “Michael Jackson drug.”
“Kouri Richins was a suburban mother, real estate agent. She does not know a lot about the illicit street drug world, but she knows Michael Jackson died from taking drugs,” prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said during closing arguments on Monday. “She doesn’t know how to order a street drug, but she knows she wants the Michael Jackson stuff. She knows she wants it because it is lethal. It is fatal. It kills. And she wanted lethal, fatal death.”
Her charges also include attempted aggravated murder, with prosecutors alleging she gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine’s Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.
Kouri Richins was also accused of committing insurance fraud by taking out a $100,000 insurance policy on his life with his forged signature and then submitting a claim following his alleged murder.
She pleaded not guilty and has maintained her innocence.
Her husband, 39-year-old Eric Richins, was found dead in bed on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined that he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document. The medical examiner determined the fentanyl was “illicit fentanyl,” not medical grade, according to the charging document.
Prosecutors allege that Kouri Richins purchased illicit fentanyl pills shortly before the Valentine’s Day incident and again before his death, at which point she allegedly asked for stronger drugs.
‘Downward financial death spiral’: Prosecutor During his closing argument, Bloodworth said Kouri Richins was in “financial desperation” due to her realty company’s debts and needed a significant influx of cash immediately. He alleged she believed she would have financially benefited from her husband’s death — without realizing that his assets were in a trust for their children.
Bloodworth said October 2021 was the “beginning of the downward financial death spiral” of Kouri Richins’ realty business, and that she had a growing debt picture nearing $8 million.
He alleged Kouri Richins intended to cause her husband’s death as early as December 2021, when she was booked a vacation with her boyfriend for April 2022.
“Kouri Richins did not book that trip thinking Eric Richins would be alive in April, she booked it knowing he would not,” Bloodworth said.
Bloodworth referred to evidence that he alleged showed she intended to cause her husband’s death. A witness testified during the trial that in December 2021 Kouri Richins said to her that “in many ways it would be better” if Eric Richins “were dead.” In February 19, 2022, days after the alleged attempted murder attempt, prosecutors said Kouri Richins texted her boyfriend, “If he could just go away and you could just be here! Life would be so perfect!!”
Bloodworth said Kouri Richins tried to cover up her alleged role in her husband’s death, starting with the 911 call.
“Listen to how she tells the 911 dispatcher where she was when Eric died. She is distancing herself,” Bloodworth said before the call was played again for jurors. “Rather than, ‘He’s not breathing. He has no pulse. I have to figure out what to do. I need help,’ she’s saying, ‘Hey, look, I was not there. I was in my son’s room.’ That’s her alibi. She’s distancing herself from the time and the place that she murdered Eric.”
Bloodworth also said the call shows that the 911 operator asked Kouri Richins to perform CPR on her husband for 6 minutes before she purportedly did. “She is not immediately trying to revive him,” he said.
Bloodworth said Kouri Richins deleted her texts and phone logs with multiple people, including her former housecleaner, Carmen Lauber, who testified about obtaining illicit drugs at Kouri Richins’ request in the weeks prior to Eric Richins’ death. He argued that Kouri Richins was worried about being investigated and her deleted messages in the wake of her husband’s death, as evidenced by searches on her phone such as, “can cops force you to do a lie detector test” and “can deleted text messages be retrieved from an iPhone.”
When the toxicology report showed that Eric Richins died from a fentanyl overdose, Bloodworth argued that Kouri Richins then needed to “explain” the presence of the drug — and that she allegedly planned to do so by claiming she got them for her husband at his request.
Bloodworth argued that Eric Richins did not die of an accidental overdose, citing testimony from his friends and family who said he did not use illicit drugs. He also argued that he did not die by suicide and had “every reason to live” — foremost being his three young sons.
“The evidence proves that Kouri Richins murdered, attempted to murder Eric Richins and that she committed two counts of insurance fraud and forgery,” he said. “The evidence does not support any other explanation.”
Defense argues case had ‘confirmation bias’ Defense attorney Wendy Lewis argued during her closing that the case was impacted by confirmation bias from the start.
“Instead of looking at the evidence to determine what happened, the state has, they determined what happened, and then they found the evidence to support it,” Lewis said.
Lewis argued that there was “no evidence” that there was fentanyl in Eric Richins’ drink the night he died and that investigators failed to look into his recent trip to Mexico, which the defense had insinuated could have been the source of the fentanyl, or to test an old prescription bottle that was on his nightstand.
Lewis raised questions about the testimony of Lauber, who testified pursuant to several grants of immunity.
“Carmen Lauber was not able to tell you that she bought fentanyl. She agreed on the stand that it was the detectives that first put the word fentanyl in her mouth, in her head. She was told by detectives in this case that she bought fentanyl. ‘Eric died of fentanyl. You bought drugs. You bought fentanyl,'” Lewis said. “She took that story and she ran with it because she had everything to lose.”
On the affair, Lewis said Kouri Richins broke things off with her boyfriend and they never went on the trip. On the phone searches, Lewis argued that Kouri Richins was worried because she was innocent.
“Of course she’s worried. An innocent person would be worried. Anyone would be worried if they just found out that they are a suspect in a homicide investigation,” Lewis said. “She would have been scared to death.”
Lewis touched on Kouri Richin’s money troubles, acknowledging that the house flipping business was “struggling,” but argued that Eric Richins was “worth so much more to Kouri alive.”
She claimed that Kouri Richins was being judged for how she grieved.
“They want you to look at a woman in the worst moment of her life and to judge her grief,” Lewis said. “There is no wrong way to grieve.”
Lewis told the jury that if they believe Kouri Richins “accidentally obtained fentanyl,” and that Eric Richins then took those pills voluntarily and died, she argued that it is “not aggravated murder” and that they “must find Kouri Richins not guilty.”
On the alleged insurance scheme, Lewis argued that the state has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that there was any fraud or forgery.
“The state has not proven their case,” Lewis said. “They don’t have the evidence that Kouri Richins killed her husband, so instead, they have tried to show you as much evidence as they possibly can to convince you she’s the sort of person who would.”
Prior to delivering its closing argument, the defense submitted a motion for mistrial, alleging that the state’s closing was full of “wild speculation,” dehumanized Kouri Richins and inappropriately commented on her demeanor. The motion was denied.
In his rebuttal, Bloodworth acknowledged that much of the evidence in the case is circumstantial.
“People do not video themselves poisoning their spouse,” he said. “But circumstantial evidence is just as good as direct evidence.”
Bloodworth argued that there was “plenty of proof to convict” Kouri Richins based on Lauber’s corroborated testimony. He also argued that much of the defense’s argument is based around trying to explain a letter found in Kouri Richins’ jail cell that prosecutors said appears to outline testimony for her brother instructing him to say that her husband got fentanyl from Mexico.
“All the evidence in this case proves that Kouri Richins murdered her husband, the father of her three children, Eric Richins,” he said. “There is no other rational explanation.”
“And despite all the evidence, Kouri Richins doubles down and blames Eric,” he continued.
Kouri Richins did not testify during the three-week trial and the defense called no witnesses.
During his testimony, the lead detective in the case said that Kouri Richins paid a ghostwriter for her children’s book.
A month prior to her arrest in May 2023, the mom of three young sons appeared on a “Good Things Utah” segment on Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX to promote the book. In the segment, Kouri Richins said her husband of nine years died “unexpectedly” and that his death “completely took us all by shock.
This tornado formed in rural Nebraska, near the unincorporated community of St. Libory, May 17, 2026. (Sierra Lindsey: NOAA NSSL)
(NEW YORK) — About 50 million people in America’s Heartland were in the storm zone on Monday, bracing for another day of destructive thunderstorms and tornadoes.
A level 4 out of 5 moderate risk for severe storms was in place across eastern Kansas, including the cities of Wichita, Topeka, Salina and Manhattan.
The new threat of twisters tearing through the Heartland comes a day after 20 tornadoes were reported in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas.
The rural Nebraska community of St. Libory, just north of Grand Island, appeared to be the hardest hit in the region on Sunday.
At least two homes in St. Libory were destroyed by a suspected tornado that swept through the community on Sunday evening, according to Howard County Emergency Management.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
Full-time storm chaser Sierra Lindsey posted video on social media of a massive twister cutting across farmland and Highway 281 north of St. Libory on Sunday afternoon.
Severe weather spreading across the Heartland is expected to trigger a new round of tornadoes on Monday afternoon.
Residents from Oklahoma to Iowa, including the cities of Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln and Des Moines, are being advised to stay alert for twisters.
Flash flooding is also possible due to heavy thunderstorms. A flash flood watch is in place from southeast Nebraska through eastern Kansas and through western and central Missouri.
Storms are expected to start popping up sometime after 2 p.m. CT and will likely grow exponentially once underway.
Flash flooding is also possible in parts of the Heartland due to training thunderstorms, or storms that continue to develop and dump rain over the same area in a relatively short amount of time. A flash flood watch is in place from southeast Nebraska to eastern Kansas and through western and central Missouri.
On Tuesday, a level 2 of 5 risk for severe storms will be in place from Texas to Vermont.
Tuesday’s storms are expected to follow a cold front snaking its way across the country. The main threats will be large hail and damaging wind, although isolated tornadoes are possible in the Great Lakes region.
Stormy weather will reach the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast on Wednesday, from Richmond to Boston, with a level 1 out of 5 risk for strong winds and hail.
Summer-like temperatures expected in the East
Meanwhile, a big warm-up is expected to continue through Wednesday for most of the East, where afternoon temperatures on Monday are forecast to reach the 80s and 90s in many places.
The temperature in New York City is expected to reach near 90 degrees on Monday and could hit the mid-90s in Washington, D.C.
It will be even hotter on Tuesday for a large swath of the I-95 corridor, with highs in the 90s from D.C. to Philadelphia and New York City to Boston.
Extreme fire weather danger
Extreme fire weather danger is forecast for Monday from northeast New Mexico, across the Texas Panhandle and into southwest Kansas and Oklahoma.
Some of the largest wildfires are burning in Meade County, Kansas, where three large wildfires have consumed more than 82,000 acres combined, officials said.
Wildfires in New Mexico and Minnesota also forced evacuations over the weekend.
Several wildfires broke out in parts of Minnesota on Saturday and grew rapidly. The largest Minnesota wildfire, the Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County, has burned more than 1,600 acres and was 20% contained on Sunday night, according to the Minnesota Incident Command System.
The Minnesota wildfires prompted Gov. Tim Walz to declare a state of emergency on Sunday morning, including mobilizing the state’s National Guard to help battle the fires.
“Unpredictable and fast-moving wildfires are putting Minnesota communities at risk,” Walz said in a statement. “This emergency declaration ensures we can fully mobilize the resources needed to protect lives, support evacuations, and help communities respond and recover.”
In this booking photo released by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Michael McKee is shown. (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The doctor who is accused of gunning down his ex-wife and her husband had allegedly told his ex “he could kill her at any time,” according to court documents.
McKee and Monique Tepe married in 2015 and divorced in 2017. According to court documents, Monique Tepe’s friends and family said Monique Tepe told them McKee “had been abusive, and had made numerous threats on her life during and after their marriage.”
One witness told detectives that Monique Tepe alleged McKee strangled her and “forced unwanted sex,” court documents said.
Another witness told detectives that “McKee had told Monique that he could kill her at any time and would find her and buy the house right next to her, that she will always be his wife,” documents said.
During the Dec. 30 homicides, McKee’s phone was left at his workplace — an Illinois hospital — and “showed no activity for approximately 17 hours,” according to court documents.
Police — who zeroed in on McKee after linking him to a car seen on surveillance video — said they also recovered video “of the same suspect” by the Tepes’ house weeks before the murders, on Dec. 6, according to court documents.
On Dec. 6, the Tepes were in Indiana at the Big Ten Championship game, and during that trip Monique Tepe allegedly told friends “she was upset about something involving her ex-husband,” according to court documents.
McKee is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. His defense attorney, Diane Menashe, entered not guilty pleas to all counts on his behalf during a court appearance last week. Menashe declined to comment to ABC News on Tuesday about the new allegations revealed in the court documents, saying she doesn’t comment on pending matters.
