Boshears Became A Killer Once He Got His Outlaw Patch: Egan

JOLIET, IL — A married man, Jeremy Boshears had a family, and he lived in Coal City when his life drastically changed about a year before he met Katie Kearns in October 2017.

"This defendant had been a member of the Outlaws about a year," Assistant Will County State's Attorney Dan Egan told the jury at the opening arguments in the first-degree murder trial. Boshears was 32 when Will County Sheriff's deputies arrested him in connection with the death of the 24-year-old Joliet bartender in November 2017.

Kearns worked at Woody's, 1008 East Washington St.

"It was an Outlaw bar," Egan told jurors. "He's an Outlaw."

On Nov. 12, 2017, Kearns was tending the bar and Boshears, one of the regular patrons, was frequenting Woody's that night, which was a Sunday.

At one point, Boshears stormed out of the bar, and threw his phone, the jury heard.

When Kearns closed down Woody's, she drove a couple miles up the road, where she visited Boshears at the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse.

"When he and Katie Kearns are alone, he kills Katie Kearns," Egan declared.

Between 2:45 a.m. and 4:05 a.m., Boshears made 30 phone calls "each and every one to a fellow Outlaws member," Egan remarked.

After Boshears wraps Kearns' body in a pool table cover and a mattress, "he puts her dead body in her trunk," Egan announced.

In the middle of the night, Boshears drove her body 50 miles to rural Kankakee, to a farm "owned by other Outlaws," Egan said.

At the farm, Boshears left Kearns' Jeep inside the pole barn.

He "locks the door and proceeds to get a ride," Egan explained. "He tells them he's having car trouble."

And even though he knew Kearns was dead, the murder defendant sent her a text that read, "I hope you made it home last night," Egan revealed. "The cover-up is on."

Back at the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse, Boshears cleaned up all the blood spatter from the fatal gunshot wound, Egan said. Boshears drove to the Walmart on Route 30 in New Lenox, where he purchased a smoke detector.

Why did the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse need a new smoke detector?

"He covers the hole in the ceiling of the clubhouse" where the bullet went, Egan revealed.

Boshears' initiation into the Joliet Outlaws motorcycle club transformed him into a cold-blooded killer, who orchestrated a cover-up of a pre-meditated murder, according to Egan.

"Patchitis," Egan told the courtroom. "You get your patch. Some people change. This defendant changes."

Boshears met Kearns in mid-October 2017 and "after only four days of knowing Katie Kearns," Boshears texted her revealing how he would "make you my queen and build an empire" with her as his new lover.

In another text, Boshears assured the young bartender, "I want you and only you."

Egan told the jury of 538 text messages between the couple and "330 to Katie Kearns."

Then, around 2 a.m., Boshears fatally shot Kearns during a jealous fit of rage in the Outlaws clubhouse, according to the Will County prosecutor. Moments earlier, she was texting her ex-boyfriend, and he was urging her to drive over to his place because he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her.

In one of the ex-boyfriend's texts, he wrote, "I just thought you wanted to have my baby," Egan told the jury.

Defense attorney Chuck Bretz told the jury that Jeremy Boshears did not murder anyone.

"This is a classic example of the government just getting it wrong," Bretz declared.

The Will County State's Attorneys' case is full of speculation and conjecture, Bretz stressed.

Most importantly, the murder trial of his client isn't about "Jeremy falling for a girlfriend and his web searches," Bretz told the jury. "Jeremy Boshears did not murder anyone. There is no question Miss Kearns' death is a tragedy, ladies and gentlemen. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound."

Bretz did let the jury know "Jeremy and Kaitlyn are in an extramarital affair."

"I'm not here to tell you he's a great guy," Bretz told jurors, referring to Boshears. "He was cheating on his wife."

According to Bretz, Kearns died inside the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse, her body was moved far away, the death scene was cleaned up, and the police were never called.

"The real puzzle is why police were so naive that they would not expect that to happen," Bretz argued.

If someone died inside a notorious mafia house, would anyone expect the mob bosses to just call the police? Bretz inquired.

In this instance, Kearns did not die of a gunshot wound in a reputable social club that is open to the public, such as the Moose Club or the Knights of Columbus, Bretz reminded the jury.

Furthermore, "she had a history of psychiatric problems" and a "history of cutting herself," Bretz noted.

She ran a razor across her forearm and ended up at the emergency room at Silver Cross Hospital just three weeks before she died because she "was feeling overwhelmed," Bretz told jurors.

"She struggled with depression," Bretz said. "Ms. Kearns did die of a gunshot wound that was self-inflicted."

More Patch Trial Coverage: Jeremy Boshears Didn't Look For Katie Kearns: Testimony