Former Joliet Teacher Charged With Murder Relocates To Oak Lawn

OAK LAWN, IL — Michael Kazecki, the former Joliet Washington Junior High School teacher who is charged with first-degree murder in the August 2018 death of his wife, Rebecca, has moved out of his Joliet house in the 700 block McDonough Street and relocated outside Will County, court records show.

On Aug. 13, Kazecki notified Will County Circuit Judge Dan Rippy that he has moved to Oak Lawn. He is now residing in the 10700 block of Long Avenue. The travel distance from Joliet to Oak Lawn is about 50 minutes.

Will County court records indicate the house in Oak Lawn where the Joliet murder defendant now resides belongs to Mary Kazecki, who is his mother.

The 71-year-old Oak Lawn woman posted 10 percent of her son's $2 million bail, allowing Michael Kazecki's release from the Will County Jail, back on Aug. 30, 2018.

A Joliet District 86 teacher at Washington Middle School at the time, Michael Kazecki was booked into the Will County Jail on the evening of Aug. 7, 2018 in connection with the death of his 38-year-old wife.

Joliet's Police Department has said the defendant claimed that his wife suffered alcohol poisoning while inside the couple's home on McDonough Street.

Rebecca Kazecki was also a teacher with District 86 at the time of her death, working at Gompers Middle School.

The Will County Coroner's Office issued a press release in August 2018 declaring that the preliminary autopsy findings determined that Rebecca Kazecki died from head injuries suffered as the result of blunt-force trauma "which appears to be a homicide."

Joliet Patch produced several articles on the high-profile nature of Kazecki's arrest three summers ago. At that time, Will County Associate Judge Ben Braun rejected efforts by the Will County State's Attorney's Office seeking a $5 million bail for Michael Kazecki.

At the time, Michael Kazecki had spent the past seven years with District 86 as a teacher at Washington Middle School. Before that, he worked as a professor at Joliet Junior College, Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills and Illinois Benedictine in Lisle, which is now called Benedictine University, as well as South Suburban College, located in South Holland, the judge was told.

"He's a public school teacher," Joliet criminal defense lawyer Nathaniel Tate informed the judge at his client's bail hearing.

Judge Braun opted to set the bail at $2 million and Kazecki has remained free in the Joliet community for nearly three full years now.

Since his arrest, Kazecki's criminal case has moved at a very slow pace within the Will County Courthouse as it remains assigned to Courtroom 402.

Circuit Judge Dan Rippy has not even set a jury trial date at this point. On July 26, Rippy approved a request from the Will County State's Attorney's Office "to take an additional cutting from the brain (of Rebecca Kazecki) for purposes of expert analysis."

Court documents indicate that Michael Kazecki "waives the right to have an expert present during the cutting process."

Kazecki is being represented by the private criminal defense firm of Edward R. Jaquays, a long-time Joliet attorney.