Samantha Harer's Gunshot Death Classified As Suicide By Channahon

JOLIET, IL - Samantha Harer's distraught parents have suggested for many months that the Channahon Police Department intended to classify their 23-year-old daughter's suspicious gunshot death on Feb. 13 as a suicide and that happened late Friday afternoon. Assistant Channahon Police Chief Adam Bogart issued a press release announcing his agency was classifying her death as a self-inflicted gunshot.

Moments later, Crest Hill's Police Chief Ed Clark issued a separate news release regarding the fate of Officer Phil Flores. Flores, who has been on paid suspension since the date of his girlfriend's death, will be "resuming administrative duties," in the near future.

Paul Ciolino, who is serving as the family spokesman for the dead 911 dispatcher's parents, Kevin and Heather Harer, told Patch that the parents met with police officials around 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Ciolino said it was a very unproductive meeting. The police essentially refused to answer most all of the parents' questions regarding the circumstances of their 23-year-old daughter's death, he said.

Harer died on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Her boyfriend, who has been a troubled police officer employed by the Crest Hill Police Department, Phil Flores, was inside her tiny apartment in Channahon. Flores called 911 claiming his girlfriend had just shot herself in the head.

The dating relationship between the two was strained, according to the parents. They have suggested that Flores killed their daughter and staged the event, including the 911 call, to appear as a suicide.

Two years earlier, Flores was put on paid suspension by the Crest Hill Police Department after he was accused of raping a sleeping woman at her house in Crest Hill. Flores later got a month-long unpaid suspension over the incident. The Will County State's Attorney Office of Jim Glasgow informed the Illinois State Police, the agency investigating the February 2016 sexual assault case, that criminal charges were not being filed against Flores at this time.

Friday's press release from Channahon Police Department's Assistant Police Chief Adam Bogart includes the following information:

"The Channahon Police Department immediately requested the Will/Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force to provide assistance and add additional expertise to the investigation . Members of the task force from Bolingbrook PD, Grundy County Sheriff's Office, Illinois State Police, Joliet PD, Romeoville PD Shorewood PD and the Will County Sheriff's Office immediately responded to the scene. The Will County State's Attorney's Office was also notified and a representative from that office responded to the scene."

Friday's press release stated that the 10-month investigation has now been completed. "The Will County Coroner has determined that Samantha's cause of death was by a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Bogart's press release stated. "That finding is consistent with, and supported by the evidence presented by this multi-jurisdictional investigation."

Ciolino, the family spokesman for the parents, told Patch, "The Harers are extremely disappointed with the efforts of this investigation and all options remain open," he said.

Ciolino said the police were presented with a list of about 60 questions on behalf of Kevin and Heather Harer and "they refused to answer about 95 percent of them."

Harer, a 2016 graduate of the University of St. Francis in Joliet, was a former police intern at the Channahon Police Department. Ciolino said it turns out that the Channahon Police Department was in charge of the death probe "in name only." He said their investigative role into her death was pretty minimal. "Their non-participation is sad and inadquate," he said.

Here's a key synopsis of Crest Hill Police Officer Flores' employment status, as noted in Friday's press release. (For additional context, it's important to point out that Crest Hill's current deputy chief of police is a former Channahon Police officer.)

File image of Samantha Harer and image of her and Phil Flores provided to Patch with permission to use