'She Will Be Going To The Hospital Next Time,' Wilmington Police Told

WILMINGTON, IL — A 47-year-old Wilmington man arrested in June on felony domestic violence charges will remain in Will County's Jail indefinitely after he was arrested once again this week, on more felony domestic violence charges involving the same woman.

This time, Wilmington police found Billy Joe Dugard hiding in the woman's house between the rafters and the foundation with a large knife in front of him, according to Will County prosecutors. Dugard also harmed the woman in 2004, resulting in a domestic battery conviction here in Will County, court files show.

In Dugard's latest case, Assistant State's Attorney Sarah West convinced Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins to deny pretrial release for Dugard, whose newest complaint, filed Thursday, charges him with two counts of aggravated domestic battery and six counts of domestic battery.

According to the petition to deny pretrial release, prosecutors outlined the following events surrounding Tuesday's arrest:

• Wilmington police were sent to the 200 block of North Main Street for a domestic battery. The 46-year-old woman told them Dugard choked her several times. She had a bruise and red markings on her neck.
• The woman told police she and Dugard were at Snookers Bar where she consumed three beers and three shots of hard liquor while Dugard consumed five shots of hard alcohol and two beers. The victim told police Dugard got mad because he wanted to leave the bar as she was talking to a friend.
• The two returned to her house on North Main Street and went to bed. During their sleep, the woman heard a knock on the door, and she tried to wake Dugard to see who it was.
• Dugard got up and backed the woman into a closet and choked her with both hands, screaming, "Bitch, I told you what would happen."

Following Dugard's arrest on June 19, his bail was set at $100,000. After he posted bond on June 28, one of his conditions of bond was that he stay away from his female victim and stay away from her house in the 200 block of North Main Street.

On Tuesday, according to prosecutors, the woman in Wilmington tried to push Dugard away as he kept choking her. Eventually, another person who lived at the house told them she had called the police, and that's when Dugard ran from the bedroom.

The eyewitness told police she was in her room when she heard people yelling, and she saw Dugard throw the victim to the ground, get on top of her and start strangling her.

"While this was happening, the defendant stated he would kill everybody in the house and kill himself," the court documents reflect. "Billy stopped strangling (the woman) when (the eyewitness) approached him ..."

Court documents note that Dugard returned to the house while the victim was at the police station being interviewed and photographed. Officers went to her house and warned Dugard he was under arrest and needed to come to the front door with his hands up.

There was silence.

Officers searched the house and found a door slightly open in the basement. Dugard was hiding between the foundation and the rafters of the first floor, and he had a large knife with him, the prosecution outlined.

Dugard surrendered to Wilmington police without any problems. Back at the police station, he made several remarks about still wanting to harm his victim, including "breaking her jaw" and vowing "she will be going to the hospital next time," prosecutors noted.

Dugard was sentenced to a year at the Illinois Department of Corrections in 2005 for an aggravated fleeing and eluding conviction out of Cook County. He was convicted of second-degree escape in 2009 in Kentucky and giving a false name to law enforcement in 2009 in Georgia.

From his June arrest, Dugard remains charged in Will County with two counts of aggravated battery and four counts of domestic battery. In his 2004 conviction from Will County for domestic battery, Dugard choked the same woman about the neck.

"The People pray that this Honorable Court deny the defendant pretrial release," Assistant State's Attorney West's filing noted.