Killer In Grundy County Stabbed Woman To Death 15 Times, But Jury Rejects First-Degree Murder Charge

MORRIS, IL — In two more weeks, Jeffrey Conley, the Gardner killer responsible for ending the life of 55-year-old Aleshea Raszkowski, will be returned to the Grundy County Courthouse for his sentencing. His maximum possible sentence is 20 years. In December, a Grundy County jury heard the evidence presented by Grundy County State's Attorney Russell Baker, and the jury did not find Conley guilty of his first-degree murder charge. Instead, the jury returned a guilty verdict for the lesser crime of second-degree murder.

In Illinois, second-degree murder carries a prison term that is served at 50 percent, not 100 percent, as first-degree murder requires. Conley remains an inmate at the Grundy County Jail, where he has remained since his arrest in August 2024.

Following Conley's arrest, a Grundy County judge ordered Conley to remain in the jail under the SAFE-T-Act's dangerousness standard.

Conley, who just turned 54 in February, will appear before Grundy County Judge Sheldon Sobol for his sentencing on March 18.

According to the State's Attorney's Office petition to deny pretrial release, at 5 a.m. Aug. 4, 2024, Grundy County Sheriff's Sgt. Wojtczak was called to 106-C on Parker Street in Gardner for a suspicious death.

Another sheriff's deputy made entry and found Aleshea Raszkowski dead. Also in the apartment were Conley and his 7-year-old daughter. Sheriff's deputies saw significant bloodshed throughout the apartment.

Blood spatter in the kitchen was evidence of a stabbing. The victim was found on the bathroom floor with multiple stab wounds. The wounds were consistent with about 15 stab wounds to her face and neck and one defensive wound to her hand, prosecutors said.

The sheriff's sergeant interviewed several neighbors, who relayed that around 1 p.m., Raszkowski told Conley that she would run over his 7-year-old daughter with her car. The neighbors reported that Conley and his 7-year-old child left after the argument, returning around 4 p.m. Neighbors later heard Raszkowski apologize for making that statement about running the child over.

The 7-year-old child was interviewed by sheriff's deputies, and she did not witness the fight that resulted in the stabbing death of Raszkowski, prosecutors said. The child was in her bedroom, and they were in the commons area of the apartment house. The child heard a crashing, and then her father came and got her.

Conley was interviewed by Grundy County's sheriffs. He told them that Raszkowski was a known crack cocaine user who sold narcotics to others. He suggested that drug dealers broke into the residence and murdered her. When detectives informed Conley that the neighbors saw and heard nobody else coming or going, he changed his statement. This time, he claimed Raszkowski came at him with a large kitchen knife and that since he knows martial arts, he used a wrist lock and started stabbing Raszkowski with her hand as she held the knife. He then started to stab her in the neck and clavicle area, prosecutors said.

During the stabbing, Conley said Raszkowski grabbed the microwave and pulled it down on him. He kept stabbing her and pushed her into the bathroom as the stabbing continued. Conley showed the sheriff's deputies how he stabbed her, saying he "got her good" and "I thought that would stop her."

Conley also admitted "he went further than he should have and was in a bout of 'fury.' When he snapped out of this fit of fury, he realized he had gone too far and didn't intend to murder Aleshea Raszkowski," the prosecutor's petition to deny pretrial release noted. "Jeff Conley stated he called 911 and concocted a story of drug dealers to distance himself from the murder."

According to the prosecution's filing, Conley's criminal history included a 10-year prison sentence to the Illinois Department of Corrections for a 2003 aggravated robbery crime in Will County. In 2014, he received 30 months of probation for a theft in Grundy County. He had a domestic battery conviction from 2015 in Grundy, a 2011 battery conviction in Grundy, a 2003 theft conviction in Will County that drew 145 days in jail, and a 1993 battery conviction from Will County that drew 12 months of court supervision.

"Defendant murdered another household member when his minor child was present in the residence by inflicting multiple stab wounds," prosecutor Baker wrote in his August 2024 filing. "Defendant made a 911 call where he lied about the facts of the case and did so again when being interviewed."