Caretaker gets 55-year sentence in stabbing deaths of elderly couple in Algonquin
A woman who pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the stabbing deaths of an elderly couple she had been caring for in Algonquin was sentenced to 55 years in prison, officials said Thursday.
Arin Fox, 42, entered the plea to a first-degree murder charge in the deaths of Noreen Gilard, 69, and Leonard Gilard, 73, in their home in the 600 block of Red Coach Lane in the far northwest suburb, McHenry County prosecutors said.
Fox had been living with the couple and was their informal caretaker while Noreen Gilard was bedridden, according to testimony at the sentencing hearing. After the Nov. 6, 2020, killings, Fox stole cash and the victims’ car, packed with her belongings, and drove to Colorado, prosecutors said in a news release.
The next day, she checked herself into a psychiatric facility, where she told a nurse she had harmed the Gilards, prosecutors said. Their bodies were found after a well-being check.
Under her plea agreement, Fox faced a sentencing range of 40 to 60 years for one count of first-degree murder, and the other count was dropped. Judge James Cowlin handed down the sentence Wednesday.
Fox had a documented long-term mental health history, prosecutors said, as well as a history of criminal conduct and substance abuse.
