Trial Gets Underway In 2019 Slaying Of Deputy Jacob Keltner

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — The trial is underway in federal court for a 42-year-old Springfield man accused of fatally shooting Deputy Jacob Keltner, 35, of Crystal Lake.

Keltner, a McHenry County Sheriff's Office deputy, was part of a task force serving an arrest warrant for Floyd Brown at an Extended Stay motel in Rockford on March 7, 2019. A federal criminal complaint alleges Brown opened fire as officers attempted to get into his motel room and then jumped out a third-floor window, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Brown fatally shot Keltner, who was assigned to keep watch outside the hotel in case Brown tried to escape, according to the article. He then fled in his car 140 miles, pointing a rifle out his window at pursuing squad cars before a trooper rammed his car into a cornfield near Bloomington, police said. A six-hour standoff followed before police used tear gas and Brown turned himself in.

Jury selection got underway Monday morning, and Brown's trial is expected to last two to three weeks, according to Shaw Media. Floyd faces mandatory life in prison or the death penalty if convicted on any of the federal charges related to Keltner's death.

Keltner had a wife and two young children at the time of his death.

His wife, Becki Keltner, shared a heart-wrenching letter following her husband's death, describing him as a caring father, devoted cop and doting husband who surprised her with the "best gifts, nights out and heartfelt notes."

"We loved each other fiercely. He was a tough guy but a secret sweetheart," Becki Keltner, 33, of Crystal Lake, wrote in the letter published on the McHenry County Sheriff's Office Facebook page Monday. She also touched on the feelings of deep sadness she's faced since the death of Keltner.

"I was so lucky to have found a love so good and a man worth spending my life with," Becky Keltner wrote in her letter.

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