Plainfield Officer's Road Memorial Stolen, Minooka Man Charged

MINOOKA, IL — As a Plainfield community service officer of two years, Tyler Dufour wanted to become a Joliet police officer, but he died unexpectedly in a Minooka motorcycle crash on July 13, 2019. Dufour's family set up a small roadside memorial with candles and crosses near the scene of the crash at Ridge Road and Prairie View Drive. Then, the family's tragedy was made worse when someone stole the roadside memorial three times.

The crimes happened in March, April and again in May.

Several weeks after the early May crime, detectives at the Minooka Police Department filed two criminal charges against Michael Moody, a 41-year-old Minooka resident. Moody has been charged in Grundy County Court with theft and criminal property damage.

"We hope he stops taking it. It's not right to do that. It does disturb the family," remarked Ed Dufour, Tyler's father, during an interview with Joliet Patch's editor at the roadside memorial.

The notion that someone in Minooka was repeatedly stealing the roadside memorial also bothers Tyler Dufour's stepmother, Michelle.

"We quite frankly find it very morbid and disturbing," she said. "This was his last spot alive."

Tyler Dufour's death devastated the Plainfield community, where he had worked from 2017 until 2019 as a community service officer. The Plainfield Police Department retired his badge and also planted a tree in his memory last fall.

Tyler's father told Patch that the roadside memorial in Minooka was set up along Ridge Road because that's the only place the family can go to pay their respects.

"Tyler, he was a good kid. He had his whole life in front of him. He knew what he wanted to be. He was going to be a Joliet police officer," his father told Patch.

Tyler Dufour was a 2015 graduate of Minooka Community High School. In high school, Tyler got average grades, his father said. Then, when he went to Joliet Junior College to pursue a career in criminal justice, he graduated with honors.

"He will be remembered for his ambition, his smile, and his amazing personality," read his obituary from Fred C. Dames Funeral Home & Crematory. "Tyler always had a big appetite for his grandma's cooking and dessert, and his passion for cars was second to none. He enjoyed many special friendships and was especially close to all his friends in the car group."

The roadside memorial along Ridge Road is across the street from the Chestnut Ridge subdivision. Tyler's father said his son was killed between 8:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

The off-duty Plainfield community service officer was on his way to the Ace hardware store to purchase auto parts for his white-colored Mazda car.

Following the tragedy, Dufour's family never fathomed that someone would visit the memorial and steal a lantern and 4-foot-tall cross, along with American flags and a small cross that lit up at night on numerous occasions this year.

"They were stolen," Ed Dufour said. "Someone ripped them right out of the ground and took them."

Dufour said the Minooka Police Department did a terrific job investigating the crimes.

During an interview Wednesday, Minooka Police Chief Justin Meyer told Patch that he can't ever recall someone stealing a roadside memorial during his time on the police force.

"It is rare," Meyer said. "I've never seen something like that where somebody is messing around with a memorial."

The Dufours "lost a loved one in a tragic incident, and they put the memorial up to remember him."

Authorities believe that Moody was responsible for all three incidents even though he has only been charged with the May theft and property damage, according to Ed Dufour.

Dufour declined to say how the Minooka Police Department determined that Moody was responsible for the theft. Moody lives in the area of the roadside memorial on Ridge Road.

"Minooka police have been exceptional," Ed Dufour said. "They've really, really, done a good job."

The most important thing to the family is that the person responsible for stealing and destroying the roadside memorials is held accountable in Grundy County's criminal justice system.

"We just hope the justice system does right for the family," Ed Dufour said.

Moody has a summons to appear on Sept. 21 at the Grundy County Courthouse on the two misdemeanor charges, court records show.