Heinous, Wicked Murder In Romeoville: Plainfield Man Found Guilty Of First-Degree Murder By Will Co. Judge

JOLIET, IL — It has taken eight years to get to this point, but at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius rendered his decision, finding George Hooper, a 42-year-old unincorporated Plainfield man, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2018 beating death of Jennifer Underhill of Rochelle.

The judge also found that 42-year-old Underhill's death was exceptionally cruel or heinous behavior committed by Hooper. The judge pointed out that Hooper tied up the victim's ankles and discarded her body in a remote area to conceal her slaying.

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Hooper is slated to be sentenced on July 30.

During Tuesday's court hearing, attended by approximately 60 family and friends of Underhill, the judge said the murder victim was in a compromising relationship with Hooper's brother and that sequence of events led to her violent murder.

The judge also rejected efforts by Hooper's criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz to find his client guilty of lesser-included crimes such as second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter.

Earlier in the morning, the judge rejected last week's motion filed by Bretz calling for a mistrial, or, in the alternative, to sustain the defendant's objection to the prosecution's rebuttal argument that Hooper "had another girlfriend."

Hooper has remained locked away in the Will County Jail since July 27, 2018, in connection with the beating death of Underhill, who was found slain outside a Romeoville warehouse. Her body was found lying in the grass in the 1800 block of Normantown Road after Romeoville police officers responded to a related report of a domestic incident.

Within days, Hooper, then 34, of Plainfield's 21000 block of West Joyce Court, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, being an armed habitual criminal and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.

According to last week's filing by Bretz, Hooper's bench trial before Judge Cornelius began on April 13, and closing arguments finished on April 24.

"During the state's rebuttal argument on April 24, the State specifically attacked the defense request that this honorable court find that at the time of the relevant events which led to the death of Jennifer Underhill, that the defendant was acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation due to finding his committed girlfriend having sex with his own brother, at the time said sexual activity was occurring or immediately thereafter," Bretz's motion from last week outlined.

Bretz went on to explain "That during the trial, part of the State's evidence involved playing portions of the recorded interview of the defendant's mother, Rose Parker. That during said recorded interview, Rose Parker made a reference to the defendant having another 'girlfriend' although there was no context or further description given the use of that term during the course of Rose Parker's interview ... the argument that the State made that the defendant had another 'girlfriend' completely misrepresents the facts pertaining to said relationship and takes entirely out of context what Rose Parker said during her statement."

According to Bretz's motion, there was a police report from Detective Henson, now known as Detective Talbot, "where the interview of the supposed 'girlfriend' is summarized; in addition, the discovery provided to the defense also included a taped statement of said person whose name is Monica L. Rodriguez ... as documented in the report, Ms. Rodriguez indicated that she had a 'hookup' relationship with the defendant, having met the defendant approximately 15 years ago when the defendant was 17 years of age. She indicated that beyond this relationship, the two of them never dated, and she had not seen the defendant since he was 19 years old, but they had kept in touch; further, Ms. Rodriguez was aware at the time of these events that the defendant, in fact, had a girlfriend."

Bretz's failed motion for a new trial also declared, "That for the State to improperly argue that the defendant had another 'girlfriend' based on the off-handed statement of Rose Parker that utilized that word without any context at all, when the State's own discovery provided the context that Ms. Rodriguez was not actually a 'girlfriend' and never had been, is grounds for this court to declare a mistrial, or at the very least, to reverse its ruling as to the State's arguments in that regard."

The Will County Coroner's office said an autopsy on Underhill revealed that she died of multiple blunt-force traumatic injuries from an assault.

Chuck Pelkie, spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, told Patch back in 2018 that Hooper was being held on $5 million bail.

Romeoville police said officers responding to a report of a semi-truck with its windows broken at around 1:30 a.m. met with the truck's owner, who said the damage was the result of a domestic dispute. While investigating the damaged semi, officers canvassed the parking lot of a nearby warehouse and found Underhill's body lying in the grass adjacent to the parking lot.

Police said they believed the domestic incident and the murder were related, and that the killing was an isolated incident that did not pose a threat to the community.