Richard Schmelzer has a month to respond to a challenge of his position as an estate trustee for his grandmother, whom authorities say he killed in 2014, according to court records.
In August, Angela Schmelzer, his mother, filed paperwork to have the Texas man excluded as a trustee overseeing the estate of Mildred Darrington, who established the trust in 1991 and appointed Angela Schmelzer and Richard Schmelzer as co-trustees in the event of her death.
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Richard Schmelzer is “unable to serve as a co-trustee because he is in prison awaiting trial for the murder of his grandmother,” the petition states. Angela Schmelzer became trust administrator after Darrington’s death and, in that capacity, has the power to remove co-trustees, according to the petition.
On Tuesday, Judge David Akemann ordered Richard Schmelzer to formally respond to the removal request within 30 days. Schmelzer, who turned 43 on Monday, was served notice of the case in Kane County Jail, where he is held on $5 million bail. He has been charged with murder in Darrington’s death. Akemann scheduled a Dec. 10 hearing on the request.
Prosecutors allege Schmelzer stabbed his grandmother to death in her East Dundee home in July 2014 as part of a scheme to cash in on Darrington’s estate. Search warrant affidavits in the case paint a picture of Schmelzer’s somewhat elaborate plan, which included claiming to be at a business conference at the time of the death when, according to prosecutors, he was actually in Illinois using a rented vehicle and prepaid cellphone.
Those court documents also suggest Schmelzer had financial issues and, for a time, was sending money to a Las Vegas woman, records show. Investigators used several warrants to obtain records that tracked Schmelzer’s movement between Texas and Illinois based on credit card use, vehicle GPS and tollway violations.
Schmelzer returns to court in the criminal case Oct. 22.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.