Samantha Harer's Suspicious Death: 6-Month Anniversary

CHANNAHON, IL - Today marks the somber six-month anniversary since police and ambulance crews in Channahon were summoned to the Bridge Street Apartments. On Feb. 13, shortly before 8:30 a.m., paramedics found Samantha Harer, 23, had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. An ambulance moved her to St. Joe's hospital in Joliet where she was pronounced dead.

Her much-older boyfriend, Felipe "Phil" Flores, a Crest Hill Police Officer in his mid-30s, was questioned by police and suggested she shot herself, according to Harer's parents. Flores was inside her apartment at the time of the shooting, and he called 911 to report the incident to Channahon police.

Channahon's Police Department, notably Chief Shane Casey and Deputy Chief Adam Bogart, have overseen the death probe involving Harer, their department's former college intern. Harer had studied criminal justice at the University of St. Francis in Joliet where she graduated in 2016. She took a full-time job in Plainfield as a 911 public safety dispatcher for WESCOM. Her parents say she had limited dating experience and did not know about Flores' checkered past before the two began to date around May of 2017.

He was previously divorced and was accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping woman at her house in Crest Hill in February 2016. Flores was not charged with sexual assault in the 2016 incident, but the Crest Hill Police Department later gave him a 30-day unpaid suspension, Patch has previously reported.

It remains unclear when authorities in Will County will issue a final cause and manner of death in Harer's case. In 2017, several months passed before Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil issued a cause and manner of death in the Sema'j Crosby tragedy. The 1-year-old girl was found dead under a couch in Joliet Township early April 27, 2017. Finally, last September 15, after mounting public pressure from The Justice For Sema'j Crosby Action Team, O'Neil issued a press release late on a Friday afternoon revealing that Sema'js death was being ruled a homicide and that her death was attributed to asphyxiation.

However, no criminal charges have ever been filed in connection with the little girl's death. The Will County Sheriff's Office is overseeing the investigation.

In Harer's death, Channahon Police decided to treat her death as an apparent suicide, according to her parents. They were visited at their house in Minooka by Chief Casey and one of his detectives the day after her death, and told her gunshot wound was probably self-inflicted, according to the parents.

However, Kevin and Heather Harer were later notified by Will County Coroner's officials that her death was considered suspicious.

To provide readers with more context and background, Joliet Patch went back and researched many of our key news articles about Harer's case since Feb. 13. The following includes a short synopsis of each article. To read each article in its entirety, please click on the bold links. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive free daily newsletters and free breaking news alerts.)

Initial Story: 911 Dispatcher Dated Crest Hill Cop

SYNOPSIS: A Channahon Patch reader who lives in the apartment complex said, "I was in the laundry room, which shares a wall with her apartment, at about midnight last night (Monday, Feb. 12) and heard nothing. I saw them wheel her out of the apartment right before 8:30 a.m. this morning (Tuesday, Feb. 13) as I was walking down to switch my laundry from last night. From my apartment it looked like she was covered and had already passed. I wasn't close enough to say for sure though."

FEB. 18: Parents Believe Daughter Was Murdered By Crest Hill Cop

SYNOPSIS: Patch reached out to Flores for comment on Samantha Harer's death, as well as the 2016 rape allegation made against him by Kristen Kurtz, but he has not replied. Flores also took down his Facebook page that week.

MARCH 12: Minooka Family Kept In Dark In Samantha Harer's Death

SYNOPSIS: "We are hoping that the police are on this, working hard, but it is Will County. This is Drew Peterson land," her mother said last week. "None of us in this county have forgotten that."

APRIL 2: 911 Dispatcher's Death Still Open 7 Weeks Later

SYNOPSIS: Now, seven weeks later, Heather and Kevin Harer still don't have a death certificate. Their daughter's cause and manner of death remains unknown. "We're kind of still in limbo," Heather Harer explained. "It will be seven weeks on Tuesday. We have nothing but questions."

MAY 8: 911 Dispatcher's Death Remains Unsolved, 12 Weeks Later

SYNOPSIS: Bogart, deputy chief at Channahon, said the case is awaiting additional laboratory tests in Chicago at the Illinois State Police crime lab. "We are held to the lab's time frame," Bogart explained. "We recognize the time that it takes to close this investigation is difficult for everybody."

MAY 15: Crest Hill Cop's Paid Suspension Has Cost $20,000 So Far

SYNOPSIS: Crest Hill Police Chief Ed Clark, who was not directly responsible for hiring Flores in 2012, has kept Flores on paid leave. Clark said nothing has changed as far as Flores' employment status. He's still on paid leave, and Clark said he was not able to estimate a time frame as far as when that may change.

JULY 17: Samantha Harer's Death Goes Unsolved For 5 Months

SYNOPSIS: At this point, Chief Casey indicated that Channahon is at the mercy of the Chicago crime lab's time frame. He said he does not have the power and the ability to dictate to the crime lab in Chicago to make Harer's case their top priority.

AUGUST 7: Samantha Harer FOIA Denied By Channahon Police

SYNOPSIS: "Such disclosures would obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation by the Channahon Police Department," Bogart's letter states. "Certain scientific evidence is currently being analyzed and a manner of death is yet to be declared."

Images with Samantha Harer and Phil Flores provided to Patch with permission to use