A Macon County judge ruled last month that evidence found at the scene of a decades-old murder that sent three family members to prison should go in a state and national DNA database search.
Leanne Beyer, an attorney with a Springfield-based project, said the evidence in the 1996 murder of Karyn Hearn Slover “could lead to the discovery of the true perpetrator(s) of the crime.”
The Illinois Innocence Project (IIP), based at the University of Illinois Springfield, and two Springfield attorneys, John Hanlon, the former executive director of the IIP, and Peter Wise, represent Michael Slover Jr., the ex-husband of Karyn Slover, and his deceased parents, Michael Sr. and Jeanette Slover.
Also working for the defendants are the Exoneration Project based at the University of Chicago Law School and Urbana attorney Steve Beckett.
Jeannette Slover died in prison Jan. 8, 2025. Michael Sr. also died in prison in 2022. His son was paroled in 2024. All three received 60-year sentences.
Judge Rodney Forbes ruled Feb. 17 that the evidence was suitable for comparison analysis and should go into the National Data Indexing System, the State Data Indexing System and/or the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, that is maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
There are three separate profiles at issue in the case.
A proper chain of custody had been established, Forbes determined. That had been a sticking point with the Illinois State Police.
DNA testing, Beyer argued, “previously excluded every member of the Slover family from numerous pieces of evidence in the case. However, the DNA profiles of multiple, presently unknown, individuals were found on the same evidence and have never been compared in state or national databases.”
Karyn Slover disappeared after leaving her advertising sales job in Decatur Sept. 27, 1996. Her car was found abandoned on Interstate 72 just outside of Champaign the same day.
The murder case grabbed national headlines after the aspiring model’s dismembered body was found in garbage bags in Lake Shelbyville just days after her disappearance. She had been shot in the head several times.
The prosecutor’s case centered around the custody of Michael Jr. and Karyn Slover’s then-three-year-old son.
Michael Sr., Michael Jr. and Jeanette Slover were arrested in 2000 after a four-year investigation. All three were convicted of murder in 2002.
Those convictions, Beyer contended, were based on “junk science and false and misleading testimony. We will continue the fight to bring true justice in this case and clear the names of Michael Jr. and his now-deceased parents.”
Former Macon County State’s Attorney Jay Scott returned from retirement to represent the State. He has maintained that the Slover family was responsible for her death.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Judge: Evidence at Slover crime scene should go to databases
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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