A Round Lake Beach man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a Libertyville man found dead in his car.
Kenneth Seplak, 37, was indicted last month on three counts of first-degree murder. The indictment specifies a firearm enhancement, which indicates that if convicted of the charges, he could face 45 years to life in prison.
Seplak, who is not in custody but is being electronically monitored after a family member posted 10 percent of Seplak’s $3 million bail, appeared in court with his defense attorney for the brief arraignment hearing.
Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Levitt set a status date of March 6 for Seplak, and has initially assigned him to the May trial call.
Seplak was charged with murder after his Dec. 24 arrest in connection with the shooting of David Gorski, 30, who was killed by a single shot that went through his right arm and into his chest, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Gorski was found dead in his car on the center median of Milwaukee Avenue near Hollister Drive by Libertyville police about 11:30 p.m. Dec. 23. Authorities said the shooting may have been a stalking-related crime.
According to information released by the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, investigators learned that Gorski had seen a movie at Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills with a 30-year-old woman from Wauconda prior to his death.
The woman later told police that she had problems with a stalker, whom Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli identified as Seplak. Covelli said officers learned of at least one recent incident in which Seplak had made an unwanted appearance at the woman’s home.
After the murder investigation began, officers found Seplak at his house Dec. 24, and GPS data taken from his phone showed he had traveled to the Vernon Hills theater where Gorski and the woman had seen the movie, and then to a house in the 41000 block of North Route 83 in an unincorporated area near Antioch.
A man at that house gave police a bag that contained a handgun and ammunition that he said he had found it in his car after Seplak had visited the home, according to police.
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Authorities also said that ballistic evidence connects the bullet that killed Gorski to the gun turned over to police.
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