Dorothy Dumyahn's Murderer Pleads Guilty During Trial

JOLIET, IL — The third day of Bruce Gempel's jury trial at the Will County Courthouse was supposed to start at 9 a.m. Thursday, with several prosecution witnesses lined up to testify against the Crest Hill murder defendant. Instead, at 9:48 a.m., Gempel stood up with his arms crossed and announced to everyone in Courtroom 407 of Will County Judge David Carlson that he was pleading guilty to murdering Dorothy Dumyahn, his 89-year-old next-door neighbor.

Gempel finally admitted that he had fatally stabbed her back on Nov. 18, 2012 and then set her house along Caton Farm Road on fire. He had hoped the blaze would destroy evidence of Dumyahn's murder. Instead, two days later, Gempel was arrested and charged with arson and first-degree murder following an hour-long interview at the Romeoville Police Department. The case was investigated by the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force.

Since November 2012, Gempel has remained locked up in the Will County jail, now almost five full years. As part of Thursday's plea bargain agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office, Gempel pleaded guilty to the lone charge of first-degree murder. His other felony charges were dismissed. Thursday's stipulation called for Gempel to receive a 20-year prison sentence at the Illinois Department of Corrections, with credit for time already served, which has been substantial.

According to Thursday's testimony, Gempel, who is now 53 years old, will get credit for about 1,760 days of time he's been incarcerated.

Carlson asked Gempel several questions to make sure the Crest Hill resident knew exactly what he was doing by pleading guilty in the middle of his jury trial after maintaining his innocence since the outset of the deadly fire. To each question, a contrite and sorrowful Gempel answered, "yes, your honor."

According to court records, Gempel had been borrowing money from the 89-year-old woman for quite some time, against the wishes of her family members. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

In court Thursday morning, Gempel addressed the family and friends of Dumyahn. About 10 were seated in the courtroom as they had been during the duration of this week's trial.

"I would like to apologize to Dorothy Dumyahn's family," Gempel declared. "I'm really sorry. It's just not who I am."

Gempel said, "I'm not trying to make excuses" for killing his next-door neighbor, but he added, "I was not in the right state of mind."

Gempel went on to say he had been fighting against problems involving alcohol and drugs pretty much "almost all my life."

Eventually, Carlson told the defendant he was accepting his guilty plea. The judge agreed with the lawyers' recommendation that he should impose a 20-year prison term.

At that point, Carlson told Gempel he had 30 days to file an appeal with the court, if he decides to change to mind on his guilty plea.

"Yes, sir, but that's not going to happen," Gempel assured the judge.

Afterward, Carlson gave a few brief remarks, mostly directing his comments to the family and friends of Dumyahn.

"I hope this provides some sort of closure to everybody in this manner," the judge said.

Booking mugshot of Bruce Gempel via Will County Sheriff's Department