WILL COUNTY, IL — A 30-year-old woman charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her children's father and his parents lured her on-again, off-again boyfriend into taking a drive before shooting him inside her car, according to court documents.
New details in a petition to deny pretrial release for Jenna Strouble allege she told police she had also considered killing her own parents, and had previously had both suicidal and homicidal thoughts, including a desire to jump out a window with her two small children.
Strouble, of St. John, Indiana, is charged with nine counts of first-degree murder in the March 23 shooting deaths of her on-and-off romantic partner Jake Lambert, his mother Stacy Forde, 54, and her husband Patrick Forde, 55, at their home in Crete Township, police said.
The sheriff's office previously said the slayings were targeted and domestic in nature. Strouble and Lambert shared two children, a 3-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.
At 2 a.m. Monday, sheriff's police were called for a welfare check at the home in the 3400 block of Norway Trail in Crete Township, police said. Deputies at the scene found the bodies of Lambert, Stacy Forde and Patrick Forde. Lambert was found inside Strouble's car in the driveway, while his mother and stepfather were found dead inside the home, the Will County Sheriff's Office said.
According to prosecutors, Strouble was arrested by police at her home in St. John, telling local police that she went to the home on Norway Trail "with an intention" that night, saying that she had intended to hurt Lambert but didn't know if she'd "have the nerve to do it."
According to the filing, she picked up Lambert between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Sunday and drove to Plum Creek Nature Preserve in nearby Beecher, but found it closed. After driving to another location, Strouble said she told Lambert she "had a surprise" for him and wanted to massage his back. She had purchased a massage gun, she told him, instructing him to recline the seat, take off his shirt and hat, and lie on his stomach. She rubbed his back for 20 minutes, and when he "criticized her technique," reached under the seat for the Glock handgun stowed there, according to court documents.
As she massaged him, prosecutors say she pointed the gun at the back of his head for an estimated eight minutes, she told police, at times contemplating setting the gun down and "thinking she would do it another day." She then shot Lambert in the back of the head, prosecutors say Strouble told police.
According to the filing, Strouble did not provide much of a motive for the killings, stating that she didn't like the way Lambert spoke to their children and that she found his parents to be overbearing. She described not liking that Lambert showered with one of the toddlers, "that people took naps with the children, that Stacy was snarky and that rules seemed to change in their home."
She stated she didn't think the children were safe with their father or any grandparents, according to the filing. Prosecutors say Strouble told police she doesn't spend time with the children, despite being unemployed, and said she had voluntarily turned them over to Lambert and his parents.
When asked if she considered killing her own parents, too, prosecutors allege that Strouble said she "had considered it but didn't think she could go through with it."
After shooting Lambert, Strouble smoked a cigarette and drove to his parents' home, according to the petition. There, she reportedly told police, she smoked another cigarette as she fumbled with Lambert's keys, trying to gain entry to the home. Patrick Forde heard her at the door and asked who was there, and after answering with her name, Strouble was asked why she was there and told Forde she didn't know, prosecutors said.
Patrick Forde opened the door, and "as soon as he did, she began shooting him, firing from the porch and then continuing as she entered the house," the court documents allege.
Strouble said she believed Stacy Forde came down the stairs because she'd heard Patrick's screams, and Strouble then shot her as well, prosecutors said.
She then took Lambert's car and drove back to her St. John, Indiana, home, where prosecutors say she called a sister who lives out of state, telling police she wanted that sister to have custody of the children. Strouble reportedly also told police she did not want her own parents to get custody of the toddlers.
In a letter written the night before the killings, Strouble listed three people she thought would make good guardians of her children, prosecutors said.
Authorities said the two children were at the St. John home with Strouble and her parents at the time of her arrest.
Strouble told police she had purchased the gun in Indiana in December 2025, less than a year after she had been involuntarily committed after a domestic incident at the Forde's Crete Township home. She said she purchased a suppressor online for $589.
The gun was purchased specifically for this plan, she told police, and she reportedly had not fired it before that night. A consensual search of her bedroom uncovered two more suppressors and a live round found in a purse, prosecutors said.
But Strouble and Lambert had previously gone to a firing range, she reportedly told police, contradicting her statement that she had not fired a gun prior to the killings.
She told police she had experienced previous suicidal ideation that had turned homicidal at the end of 2025, the petition outlined. Prosecutors said there was a prior incident in which Strouble considered suicide by jumping out a window while holding her children.
In another earlier incident, Strouble had taken a rifle from her father and stowed it under her bed, telling her father she had considered killing Lambert but didn't have a plan, prosecutors said.
Autopsies on the victims detailed that Lambert died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Patrick Forde died from multiple gunshot wounds, with 17 wounds noted in reports. Stacy Forde died of multiple gunshot wounds, with three noted in reports.
Strouble was taken into custody Tuesday in St. John, Indiana—where police say she fled after the murders. There, authorities said she was taken into custody after handing police a bag with a loaded Glock inside it. The gun was later found to be the one used in the shootings.
She was held in a Lake County, Indiana, jail before being transferred into Will County custody.
Strouble waived extradition to Illinois during a court hearing in Indiana on Thursday afternoon. Jail records say she was booked into the Will County jail at 10 a.m. Friday. Her pretrial detention hearing is set for 9 a.m. Monday in courtroom 4o5.
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In the petition to deny pretrial release, prosecutors said she posed a danger to society as a whole.
"The defendant orchestrated a plan to kill three individuals with no real motive other than a general dislike for them," the petition reads. "... it is obvious to see how easily this motive could extend to anyone who crosses her path, appears overbearing, speaks to her children, or dares to have a tone she would characterize as snarky.
"Further, the defendant poses a risk to her own parents. While she indicated that she thought about killing them but didn't think she could go through with it, she described precisely the same feeling about killing Jacob mere moments before actually pulling the trigger.
"She has proven herself capable of overcoming that fear of accomplishing her goals. There is no condition of pre-trial release that could safeguard her parents and the community from an individual as dangerous as this defendant."
In a crowded Will County courtroom Monday, Strouble appeared for less than a minute at her pretrial detention hearing before Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak. Strouble appeared coherent and spoke clearly, noting to Bertani-Tomczak that she has hired an attorney who was unable to be present as they were in court elsewhere Monday. Bertani-Tomczak then postponed the hearing until Tuesday.
At least 15 family and supporters of the victims attended and watched the proceedings, meeting with prosecutors afterward.
Patch Editor John Ferak contributed to this report.
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