Triple Murder On Great Falls Drive Unsolved, 1 Year Later

JOLIET, IL — Friday marks the chilling one-year anniversary of the Great Falls Drive triple murders. It's one of the worst multiple murder cases in the City of Joliet in many years. It's also a terrifying crime that has not been solved by the Joliet Police Department's investigations unit.

While most of the Cumberland Subdivision slept during the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2017, a vicious cold-blooded killer infiltrated Joliet's far west side neighborhood near County Line Road. Inside the home on Great Falls Drive, someone pointed a loaded gun at the homeowner's son and fatally shot Anthony McGee, 22.

The gunman did not want to leave behind eyewitnesses.

In addition to McGee, Emmanuel "Manny" Hernandez-Arroyo and Gabriella Rueda, also 22, were fatally shot inside McGee's home.

Once the gunman recognized all three were slain, they walked outside and left and under the cloak of darkness, made a safe getaway. The killer also was in luck. Time was on his or her side.

None of the neighbors apparently heard the gunshots, so no one called the police.

The Joliet Police Department wouldn't learn of the shocking triple murders until 3 p.m. that afternoon.

Police determined there was a small party at Anthony McGee's home, and investigators did not believe the killings were random.

However, despite the fact there were a limited number of visitors to the McGee home for the party — a limited pool of potential witnesses for homicide detectives to interview — Joliet police remain unable to build sufficient evidence to make any arrests.

McGee, the likely target, was a violent ex-convict who got out of the state pen a few months earlier.

Gang retaliation or drugs, or a combination, are believed to be factors in the killings, Patch has previously reported.

Now, at the one-year anniversary of the Great Falls Drive triple murders, residents of the subdivision wait and wonder whether the killer who remains at large will ever be captured and held accountable for the gruesome crimes?

Here's a snapshot of comments made during the past last year in wake of the triple murders that stunned the Cumberland Subdivision as well as the Joliet, Plainfield and Shorewood areas as a whole.

• “We think around 4 o’clock in the morning – it was when a lot of dogs started barking – could’ve been when it happened, but nobody heard anything,” neighbor Brad Guethle told CBS Chicago last Sept. 7.
• "What I don't understand is why they don't keep us more informed on updates, even if it's not anything new to say. Common sense tells you that the more time the criminal has to get away, the harder it will be," neighbor Brenda Guethle told Joliet Patch last December.
• "We are following up on social media options and still trying to find information from people who were at the party. This is one of those cases where we need the public's help. Obviously, we have not been able make any arrests, but we do have a number of detectives actively assigned on this case," Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton told Patch last Sept. 13.

As it stands, the Joliet area's two most high-profile murder cases from last year both remain unsolved. The other is the April 25, 2017 Sema'j Crosby homicide in Preston Heights, an investigation spearheaded by the Will County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Mike Kelley.

In a Joliet Patch article last Sept. 29, Benton remarked, "We have identified a person of interest. We are making progress albeit not as quickly as we would like ... we don't have enough probable cause at this point to make an arrest. Right now we need to solidify that lead. We need more evidence.

"We do not have a suspect. We have a person of interest because I'm not ready to consider him a suspect as of yet."

But whether the so-called person of interest remains on the police department's radar is unclear.

Benton stopped speaking with the Joliet Patch late last year, and the Joliet Police Department, under his direction, has made minimal apparent effort to keep the unsolved triple murder case in front of the public spotlight. Benton, 49, recently announced plans to leave the Joliet Police Department, and deputy chief of criminal investigations Al Roechner is now serving as interim police chief.

As the murders remained unsolved this year, Benton did not take the initiative to publicize any type of cash reward seeking information, even anonymous tips, in hopes securing the killer's arrest.

Furthermore, the Joliet Police Department has not utilized its Facebook page, which has about 20,000 followers, to cultivate additional leads and tips in the unsolved murder case.

The crime is also not publicized on the website for the Crimestoppers of Will County.

In any event, the three grieving families of the murder victims remain at a loss.

No one has been prosecuted for the callous killings of three young people in the prime of their lives. McGee was the only one of the three to have an extensive criminal record.

At this point, Joliet's Great Falls Drive triple murders join an unsettling list of other Will County high-profile crimes that haven't been solved. Those crimes include Tinley Park's notorious February 2008 murder of five women at the Lane Bryant store.

Others include the October 2007 disappearance of Stacy Peterson in Bolingbrook, the April 2007 disappearance of Lisa Stebic in Plainfield, the 1990 disappearance of former Will County Sheriff's deputy Robin Abrams and the July 1981 disappearance of Joliet 6-year-old Sarah Avon.

File images via John Ferak/Joliet Police Department