An Antioch man who nearly decapitated his wife with a machete and suffocated his 82-year-old mother pleaded guilty Monday in Lake County court.
Lake County Judge Mark Levitt sentenced Billy Varner to 45 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a single count of first-degree murder for killing his mother, Dorothy.
When asked if he would like to make a statement, Varner said simply, “I’m sorry.”
Varner has been held without bail since he was arrested after a crime spree that began Oct. 26, 2013, when he stabbed his wife, Peggy Henderson, 61, in her bed at the Antioch apartment they shared with his brother and mother.
Prosecutors said Varner heard Henderson wheezing in her sleep after she had taken a sleeping pill and wanted to end her misery, so he hacked her across the jaw with the machete. Because she kept making noise, Varner then stabbed her in the chest repeatedly with a knife and left her in the bedroom.
On Oct. 28, worried that his mother might be suspicious about his wife, Varner suffocated her with a garbage bag and towel while she was playing solitaire, according to Prosecutor Ari Fisz.
The discovery of the bodies kicked off a manhunt that last several days and ended when Varner was arrested in North Dakota after bursting into a Catholic church during services and rounding up parishioners’ money and valuables.
When Varner was taken into custody a short time later, police found the machete and knife in his brother’s van, which Varner had taken, authorities said.
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Fisz said the state’s attorney’s office had been in discussions for some time with Varner’s attorney.
“This is effectively a life sentence,” Fisz said. “The family is comfortable with the sentence. All relevant police departments thought it was a just disposition.”
Varner, who told the judge he had an eighth-grade education and had dyslexia, will have to serve 100 percent of his sentence. He was given credit for the 351 days he had served since his arrest.