Boshears Claimed Kearns Drove Herself Home From Outlaws Club

Joliet IL

20 April, 2022

10:32 PM

Description

JOLIET, IL — For the first time, the Will County jury determining the guilt or innocence of first-degree murder defendant Jeremy Boshears got to watch the Joliet Outlaw tell two Will County detectives how he saw Katie Kearns leave the clubhouse and drive home toward New Lenox. In reality, Kearns did not drive home. She died of a gunshot to her head inside the Joliet Outlaws Clubhouse around 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2017. Her body was found 60 miles away, a few days later, stuffed inside a mattress and wrapped in a black tarp in the back of her Jeep. Boshears drove her Jeep to a farm in St. Anne, and told the property owners, a husband and wife who are affiliated with the Outlaws, that the Jeep broke down, according to trial testimony. On Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Steven Platek played a video of Boshears being interviewed prior to his arrest about the Nov. 12, 2017 disappearance of Katie Kearns. The interview was conducted by Will County Detectives Jeff Tolbert and Vince DiSalvo. When answering the detectives, Boshears often called them, "Bro." Boshears told them he drank at Woody's Bar, where Kearns was bartending on Nov. 12, 2017, the night she went missing. The detectives asked Boshears, who was living in Coal City, how long he had been going to Woody's. "Since I was 21," Boshears replied. "(Expletive.) I was born and raised on the east side." Jeremy Boshears told Will County Sheriff's detectives that Katie Kearns was "a sexy (expletive) chick." John Ferak/Patch On the night of the disappearance, the crowd was small inside Woody's, Boshears recalled. Besides him and Colby O'Neal, who was a probate in the Joliet Outlaws, Boshears remembered seeing "two chicks and a boyfriend." Platek stopped playing the police interview, so he could ask a question in front of the jury. "At this point, she was just a missing person?" Yes, testified Tolbert, who is now retired. When the video resumed, Boshears told the detectives Kearns "texted me" to stop over at the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse, where Boshears and O'Neal went after Woody's closed at midnight. Boshears told the detectives he resisted the temptation to stay up late with Kearns because he had to go to his uncle's funeral service at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood at 11:30 a.m. "And that was heartbreaking," Boshears told the detectives. "He was Army." At left, Jeremy Boshears answers questions from Will County detectives Jeff Tolbert and Vince DiSalvo. At that point, Katie Kearns was missing. John Ferak/Patch Inside the Outlaws clubhouse, "she really wanted to hang out," Boshears told the detectives. "I said I've already been drinking a lot." Boshears said he remembered taking "a piss" and, "I walked her to her car. I said you should go home. She headed toward New Lenox." The detectives asked what kinds of drinks Kearns preferred. "She was a vodka and pineapple juice, vodka and cranberry," Boshears told them. "Sometimes, a shot of whiskey." Boshears told the detectives he did kiss her after she got to the clubhouse. Boshears said he met Kearns "about four weeks ago." He was still married, and his wife was five years older than he was, he told Will County police. As for Kearns, "She's a sexy (expletive) chick," Boshears told them. "She's young." Jeremy Boshears and Colby O'Neal went to Woody's where Katie Kearns tended bar on Nov. 12, 2017. John Ferak/Patch In fact, Boshears just met her father, Kevin Kearns, for the first time that past weekend. Boshears told the detectives her father was very nice to him, which caught him by surprise because "I'm an Outlaw" and Boshears figured Kevin Kearns would tell him, "'Get the (expletive) out.'" As the video continued, Boshears made a statement to the detectives that drew the attention of the prosecutors. "She was a cool chick," Boshears told the detectives. Moments later, Boshears remarked, "She is a cool chick." When the two detectives told Boshears they did not know what happened to Kearns, Boshears told them, "Hey, come at me. You should." After Kearns' was body was found, the autopsy showed she had cocaine in her system, and she was nearly three times the legal limit to be considered drunk. She was less than 5-feet tall, and she weighed about 110 pounds. During the questioning of Boshears about her disappearance, the detectives asked whether she would "get some blow," a slang term for cocaine. "I don't party," Boshears told them. "Her business was her business." Boshears insisted he did not have sex with Kearns at the Outlaws clubhouse prior to her going missing. "Nothing sexual, (we) just have a drink," Boshears said. The basement of the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse contains several bunk beds, Will County police found. John Ferak/Patch On a prior occasion, "I did have sex with her," Boshears told detectives. "I'm not going to lie to you. It was at her house." The detectives asked what happened after Boshears claimed he walked her outside and saw her drive away toward New Lenox. "I texted her in the morning," Boshears replied. He later learned, from her father and one of her brothers, she went missing. "I was like, what the (expletive)?" Boshears remarked. "I was the last to see to her. It's really (expletive) up. She was young as (expletive)." Besides Woody's Bar on East Washington Street, Kearns worked at a breakfast café in Frankfort and another restaurant in Orland Park or Tinley Park, Boshears told detectives. "Three jobs," Boshears said. "She had her s*** together." Platek continued to play the videotape showing Boshears telling detectives how he made it clear to Kearns in the clubhouse that "I gotta go. I gotta go." The video showed Boshears telling detectives, "She wanted to stay ... I wanted to (expletive) her. She knew my uncle just killed himself." Minutes later, the jury was abruptly sent out of the courtroom. Platek had inadvertently played a portion of the Boshears' police video interview that was stipulated before the trial not to be allowed as evidence — the reference to the suicide of Boshears' uncle, according to Bretz. Outside the jury's presence, Bretz blasted the Will County State's Attorney's Office for messing up. Judge Carlson told everyone he was taking Bretz's request for a mistrial under advisement because he wanted to think about it. Will County Judge Dave Carlson is allowing limited news media photography for the Jeremy Boshears murder trial. John Ferak/Patch Once the jury returned, Platek continued to playing the videotape. Detective Tolbert asked if Kearns texted him back after Boshears said she drove herself home. "No, she never did," Boshears answered. Boshears also said he tried calling her that Monday morning. "What time?" Tolbert asked. "Before 11 a.m. sometime," Boshears replied. "The second time it went straight to voicemail." When Platek finished playing the video, the prosecutor asked Tolbert one question. What tense did Boshears use when referring to Kearns? "Past tense," Tolbert told the jury. During cross-examination, Bretz wanted the jury to know that his client made other statements to Will County Sheriff's detectives that the prosecution did not let them hear. After his arrest on Nov. 18, 2017, Boshears screamed, "I didn't (expletive) kill anyone! I'm not a (expletive) murderer!" "And that was recorded on video?" Bretz inquired. "Yes," Tolbert agreed. Judge Carlson told the jury to return to the Will County Courthouse at 10 a.m. Thursday. Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz argues that Katie Kearns died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. John Ferak/Patch