Wm. J. Ross - where is he?

William J. Ross is the guy whom the McHenry County Sheriff's Department wants a little chat with about the body of Jacqueline Schaefer that was in a bedroom of his house near McHenry. Her body was found on November 6. Ross is cooling his heels in Clark County (Nev.) Correctional Center, in Las Vegas, where he has been since November 7. Ross refused to waive extradition.

On November 6 Schaefer's body was found in a sealed room in Ross' house. Within a day the MCSD had completed its investigation and charged Ross with Concealment of a Homicidal Death. (Whew! That was fast.) Ross was indicted by a McHenry County Grand Jury on December 18.

In a statement to the Northwest Herald on November 12, Assistant State's Attorney Mick Combs "...explained that prosecutors will secure a governor's warrant to extradite Ross.'The only issue is proving that he is the same William Ross that's wanted out of Illinois.'"

If that were the only issue, wouldn't Ross be back in McHenry County by now?

When I contacted the SAO this past week to ask the status of the extradition request, the answer was that they weren't going to answer - It's part of an active investigation.

After I read the response several times, I began to wonder what is different between the November 12 statement to the media and my inquiry about the extradition. So then I called the Illinois Governor's Office to ask if Gov. Quinn had signed an extradition order and had sent it to Nevada's Governor Sandoval.

At first, they said they couldn't tell me, because what if the wanted person heard about it? He'd flee. I said that fleeing wasn't a high likelihood, because Ross is behind bars in Las Vegas on a hold for McHenry County.

But the Clark County (Nev.) Correctional Facility can only hold him for 90 days. That's about February 7 - less than a month from now. If they have to cut him loose, will he disappear then?

Then the Governor's Office passed the buck to their lawyer's office, who passed the buck to the Public Information Office. An ISP Sergeant there called and left a message for me. When I called him back, the call went to voicemail - sort of. The voice mailbox was full, and the person who recorded the message now works in a different department. A few more calls and a few more messages, and still no answer. But there is always Monday.