OREGON — In a Feb. 28 press release, Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock announced that a 29-year-old Palatine man pleaded guilty to the charge of first degree murder of a Rochelle woman in 2022.
Gary C. Freeman, 29, of Palatine was then sentenced to serve 35 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
On Sept. 18, 2022 at 10:46 a.m. Rochelle Fire and Police Departments were dispatched to an apartment located at 503 7th Ave. for smoke in a residence. Upon entry into the residence, fire personnel located a deceased female. The fire was deemed suspicious, and additional investigators arrived on scene.
The victim was identified as Devin K. Gibbons, 28, of Rochelle. During the course of the investigation, Freeman was developed as a suspect. In March 2023, Freeman was arrested in Schaumburg and transported to the Ogle County Jail and charged with four counts of first degree murder, one count of residential arson and one count of concealment of a homicidal death.
Freeman was sentenced by Judge Anthony W. Peska. His term of imprisonment will be served at 100 percent and is followed by three years of mandatory supervised release. The plea of guilty followed an extensive criminal investigation and prosecution. RPD led the investigation. Rock and Assistant State's Attorneys Allison Huntley and Heather Kruse handled the prosecution.
“I would like to thank the Rochelle Police Department's Detective Sgt. John Kaltenbach (retired) and Detective Elvis Baneski and Assistant State's Attorneys Allison Huntley and Heather Kruse for their hard work on this case,” Rock said in the press release.
Back at a March 2023 press conference in Rochelle, Rock said that Gibbons and Freeman knew each other prior to the murder and that officials believed she was already deceased before the fire. RPD narrowed its investigative search to Freeman within a short amount of time.
The Ogle County Sheriff's Office, Illinois State Police, State Fire Marshal’s Office, The Red Cross, Illinois State Police Crime Scene Investigators, Ogle County Coroner’s Office, Ogle-Lee Fire Protection District, Federal Bureau of Investigation (Rockford and Chicago Offices), Schaumburg Police Department, Palatine Police Department, Sterling Police Department and Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center assisted with the investigation.
