Plea Hearing Set for Palatine Man Accused of Killing Teen in 1997

PALATINE, IL — A Palatine man accused of killing a 14-year-old girl and leaving her body in a Wisconsin nature preserve in 1997 could be receiving a plea deal from prosecutors in the case, according to the Daily Herald.

James P. Eaton, 38, had pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in connection with the death of Amber Creek, a Palatine teen who went missing from a Chicago juvenile home in January of 1997. His trial was set to begin Nov. 28, but court documents in Racine County, Wisconsin, where the case is being tried, now show a plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning, the Herald reports.

Authorities found Amber's partially clothed body in February of 1997 in a nature preserve in Racine County, and the murder investigation lasted 17 years. A break in the case came when Oklahoma investigators looking into cold cases matched Eaton's fingerprints to those taken from a plastic bag over Amber's head.

Eventually, police were able to lift DNA evidence from a cigarette Eaton discarded at a Palatine train station. That sample matched DNA found at the crime scene, and Eaton was arrested by Racine authorities in April of 2014.

More via the Daily Herald

James P. Eaton from 2014 (photo via Racine County Sheriff's Office)

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