Police and Courts

UPDATED 2 p.m. | Bloomington Police are investigating four reports of gunfire in just the past week.

GLT is partnering with the true crime podcast Suspect Convictions to explore the 1998 murder of 3-year-old Bloomington girl Christina McNeil.

Former McLean County Board chair Matt Sorensen is expected to report to federal prison Monday to begin serving his one-year sentence for defrauding State Farm and one of its consultants.

A sexual harassment lawsuit that derailed the political career of former state Treasurer Dan Rutherford has been dismissed in federal court in Chicago.

The former manager of the U.S. Cellular Coliseum who’s accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Bloomington taxpayers has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that he’s owed $67,175 in unpaid commissions.

The Illinois Innocence Project based at the University of Illinois Springfield has received a grant for DNA testing to help exonerate wrongfully convicted inmates.

GLT is partnering with the true crime podcast Suspect Convictions to explore the 1998 murder of 3-year-old Bloomington girl Christina McNeil.

McLean County could join the growing list of state and local governments suing big pharmaceutical companies for distribution practices that they say contributed to the opioid crisis.

A 19-year-old Bloomington man was killed and another injured early Saturday in a single-vehicle crash near Downs.

Police in Normal said Sunday that a social media user alerted them to an early morning Facebook Live video broadcast of an apparent fight involving three women.

Professional football players aren't the only ones taking a knee during the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

A man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Tuesday for opening fire on a rival on Bloomington’s east side—a shooting that put several nearby vehicles and a store in the crossfire.

A 41-year-old Bloomington man is dead after a motorcycle crash Thursday night in northeast Normal.

Bloomington-Normal residents were reminded Monday to check their smoke detectors after authorities released the cause of a fatal condo fire in Normal.

A jury convicted a 25-year-old man Tuesday in a scheme to deposit forged checks at a Normal bank and then withdraw the money from ATMs before the bad checks could be discovered.

A Blue Lives Matter rally outside Bloomington City Hall on Monday evening drew about 15 people.

Attorneys for Alan Beaman say they will ask the Illinois Supreme Court to review an appeals court ruling exonerating former Town of Normal police officers who Beaman accused of conspiring to wrongfully and maliciously prosecute him.

A 21-year-old Carlock woman is in custody after allegedly hitting a pedestrian with her vehicle and fleeing the scene, only to be tracked down by police two weeks later.

McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage is running for re-election. Sandage cited achievements in increasing drug enforcement efforts as a reason he hopes people will vote for him again.

"We have dedicated another detective to our detective division and started running narcotics cases out of our detective division. We have also added a K-9 unit to the patrol division and we are working a lot more drug interdiction details," said Sandage.

The man accused of stabbing a Peoria woman to death in a Bloomington motel last month now faces new charges.

Police say 32-year old Kyle Brestan was arrested again at the McLean County Jail on seven counts of the manufacture and possession of child pornography.

Another shooting in Bloomington, and another leg wound. Police don't believe the wound locations in each of the four shootings since April 28th is significant. 

Police have arrested a 22-year-old man from Normal for shooting a man to death in Normal on Wednesday.

A 33-year old Brimfield man shot himself Tuesday afternoon on I-74 near Carlock. McLean County Coroner Kathleen Davis said Paul S. Smith died of a penetrating contact gunshot wound of the head.

The incident remains under investigation by the McLean County Coroner's office and State Police.