Prosecutors will get complete palm print samples from East Dundee murder suspect Richard Schmelzer to compare with prints located inside a car they believe he used to drive to Illinois around the time of his grandmother’s death, a judge recently ruled.
Schmelzer, 43, of Frisco, Texas, is charged in the July 2014 murder of Mildred Darrington. Prosecutor allege he stabbed Darrington while inside her home as part of what they believe was a scheme to benefit from his share of her estate. Court documents outline the lengths Schmelzer apparently went to in carrying out his plan to travel from Texas to East Dundee to commit the crime. Court papers also suggest Schmelzer had financial issues and, for a time, was sending money to a Las Vegas woman. Investigators used several warrants to obtain records that tracked Schmelzer’s movement between Texas and Illinois based on credit card use, vehicle GPS and a tollway violation.
Schmelzer has pleaded not guilty and is being held in the Kane County Jail on $5 million bail.
During a hearing last week, Judge Linda Abrahamson granted a prosecution request to obtain complete palm print samples from Schmelzer intended for comparison to latent prints taken from a Ford Focus they say Schmelzer drove from Texas around the time of the murder. In its motion, prosecutors state Schmelzer enlisted the help of a man he knew to rent the Focus on the morning of July 17, 2014. That man exchanged the rental with Schmelzer, who gave his personal vehicle to the man with instructions to park it back at Schmelzer’s home, the motion explains.
Schmelzer and the man met the evening of July 18 for dinner during which Schmelzer told the man he had driven to Illinois, according to prosecutors who pointed out the Focus picked up a toll violation on Interstate 355 around 2:30 that morning. Prosecutor further noted the Focus and a white male were depicted on video footage from a West Dundee gas station a few miles from Darrington’s home just before 3:15 a.m.
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Investigators later processed the Focus and pulled partial prints from the interior of the driver’s side window. Five of those prints were suitable for comparison, prosecutors said, adding that comparisons to Schmelzer’s finger and palm print cards “did not reveal any identifications,” but that “clear and complete inked palm prints … are needed for a conclusive comparison” to two of the prints found in the car, the motion explained.
Schmelzer’s attorney unsuccessfully objected to the motion on grounds that prosecutors failed to provide enough support for the request.
Schmelzer returns to court May 26. No trial date has been set in the case.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter.