Murder Victim's Body Driven To Joliet's Woodlawn Cemetery: Here's Why Tony Harames May Never Stand Trial

JOLIET, IL — December will mark five years since Joliet police arrested Tony Harames on first-degree murder charges and concealment of a homicidal death. Authorities have said that Harames, who is now 35 years old, led Joliet police to a secluded, off-the-beaten-path location inside the giant Woodlawn Cemetery on West Jefferson Street where he had discarded the slain body of his uncle the previous month.

Last week, one of Will County's longest serving judges, Sarah Jones, agreed with criminal defense attorney Eric Mitchell's motion seeking another mental health fitness examination for his client. The judge's order states, "this court finds that a bona fide doubt as to the defendant's fitness for trial, to plead to be sentenced has been raised. A fitness examination must be conducted. A fitness hearing must be held."

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A copy of Mitchell's motion is shared at the bottom of this story.

Although Harames has been represented by private criminal defense counsel, the fitness evaluation from Judge Jones indicates the Will County taxpayers will be responsible for the costs associated with evaluating whether Harames is mentally fit to eventually stand trial.

The order from Judge Jones shows that "the examiner shall submit a written report to the court, the state and to the defense within 30 days of the date of this order ... If the report indicates that the defendant is not fit because of a disability, the report shall include an opinion as to the likelihood of the defendant attaining fitness within one year if provided with a course of treatment."

A status hearing on the murder case has now been set for Nov. 9 in Courtroom 501 for Harames, who has been kept in detention at the Will County Jail since his Joliet police arrest on Dec. 9, 2021. Harames remains under the old cash bail-bond system, and his bail is set at $4 million.

After fatally stabbing 53-year-old Timothy Bokholdt, Harames loaded his uncle's body into a vehicle and drove to the Woodlawn Cemetery along West Jefferson Street, where he disposed of his uncle's body in the back of the cemetery in November 2021, according to Joliet police.

For several weeks, none of the visitors or maintenance staff at Woodlawn Cemetery ever realized that Bokholdt's body was dumped at their sprawling cemetery, and nobody knew about Bokholdt's apparent murder except for his killer, according to officials.

Then, one month later, Harames engaged in a standoff with Joliet police that lasted several hours into the night, inside his missing uncle's house in the College Park subdivision. The next day, according to Joliet police, Harames led the detectives to the hiding spot where he put his uncle's slain body, at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Joliet police believe the homicide happened around Nov. 17, 2021. The uncle died from a stabbing inside his house on Natoma Court, Joliet police have said.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

• Joliet Killer Waited 5 Days To Move Body To Cemetery: Prosecutors
• Woodlawn Cemetery Murder Revisited 1 Year Later
• Is Joliet Murder Defendant Anthony Harames Fit To Stand Trial?
• Joliet Killer Dumps Uncle's Body In Woodlawn Cemetery: Police