Photo by Melissa Meske
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons (at podium) was joined by Jersey County State’s Attorney Ben Goetten, Jersey County Sheriff John Wimmersberg, Alton Police Chief Jake Simmons, and several other key personnel at a press conference April 12.
Charges announced April 12 against a Jersey County man alleged to be responsible for the 2010 death of Bonnie Woodward of East Alton have been amended as the case moved forward in Jersey County Circuit Court on April 23.
Roger W. Carroll, 52, of Jerseyville, entered a plea of not guilty on all five counts in connection with Woodward’s death. He remains in custody without bond at the Jersey County Jail. A pretrial date is set for June 14.
The first and second counts outline special class felony charges of first-degree murder. Charges indicate that “on or about the 25th day of June, 2010, in Jersey County, Illinois, Roger W. Carroll committed the offense of First Degree Murder.” Court filings state Carroll shot Woodward multiple times with a Stoeger Cougar 9mm Luger.
The third count, a special class felony, and the fourth count of a Class X felony, involved charges of aggravated kidnapping.
In count five, Carroll was charged with a Class 3 felony of concealment of a homicidal death. Documents indicate that “said defendant, with knowledge that Bonnie Woodward had died by homicidal means, knowingly concealed the death … by placing her in a fire and burning her body.”
Madison County filed an added felony charge of aggravated kidnapping April 12, but following the April 23 court appearance, Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons indicated this charge will most likely be dismissed in Madison County.
Jennifer Mudge of the Madison County State’s Attorney Office has been appointed as a special prosecutor for Jersey County and will be handling the case.
Bonnie Woodward was 48 at the time of her disappearance in 2010. Witnesses said they saw her talking to a man fitting Carroll’s description in the parking lot of her workplace, Eunice Smith Nursing Home in Alton, after finishing up her shift on the afternoon of her disappearance, and then leaving in a vehicle similar to the one owned by Carroll.
More recent visits and excavation at the suspected site of Woodward’s disposal, according to special investigator Scott Golike of the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office, resulted in the discovery of potential human bone fragments and teeth as well as a key to which the use has not yet been identified. These discoveries were made during an extensive review of the site earlier this month.
Golike has been involved in the case since it was first initiated in 2010, formerly as the Alton Police Department’s chief of detectives.
Golike said in the courtroom Monday it was Carroll’s son, Nathan, who provided additional information that led to the arrest and charging of Carroll. His son, who was 16 at the time of the alleged crime, testified to a grand jury that his father enlisted him in helping burn Woodward’s body over a course of 8 to 10 days on a brush pile. Nathan Carroll has been given full immunity from prosecution, according to Gibbons.
Separate charges were brought in March 2018 against Roger Carroll in Jersey County resulting from a domestic incident between him and his estranged wife, Monica D. Carroll. Those charges include domestic battery and unlawful restraint, with court documents indicating Carroll locked her in a laundry room and used a Taser on her head and neck.