Plainfield Man's Wife and Half-Brother Now Charged With Murder in Lake Mattoon Dismemberment Case

Illinois State Police filed three additional first-degree murder charges Friday against the wife and half-brother of a Plainfield man whose dismembered body was pulled from Lake Mattoon last month.

Robin Turner, 62, and James Adams, 26, were already in custody in Cumberland County on charges of concealing a homicidal death and dismembering a body. Prosecutors say they now face three counts of first-degree murder apiece in the killing of Dalewayne Turner, 38, Robin's husband and Adams' half-brother. Both remain jailed.

The case surfaced on June 28, when a boater on Lake Mattoon, roughly 200 miles south of Plainfield, found a dismembered arm in the water. Investigators traced the remains back to Dalewayne Turner and, over the following days, recovered the rest of his body. Some of it had been left in plastic totes weighted down and sunk near the lake, and some was found stored in a freezer in the basement of the home Turner shared with his wife and half-brother in Plainfield.

According to court documents, Adams stabbed Dalewayne Turner to death during a fight inside the home. Adams told investigators the stabbing was self-defense. Prosecutors allege Adams then hid the body in the basement for an extended period before he and Robin Turner dismembered it, packed it into a trash bag and totes, and drove it to Lake Mattoon. Court filings say the pair placed five-pound weights in the bags in an attempt to keep the remains submerged.

Investigators say the couple tried to erase evidence of the killing inside the house. Court documents allege they used bleach to mask the smell, repainted rooms, tore out wood paneling and carpet, and burned the material in a backyard fire pit.

Steven Turner, Dalewayne's brother, told police that Adams and Robin Turner had confessed to him, saying Dalewayne turned violent during an argument at the house and that Adams stabbed him multiple times. Steven Turner said he saw no injuries on either suspect that would support a self-defense claim and called police as soon as he heard the account, according to court records.

Prosecutors also cited Robin Turner's internet search history as part of their case. Court documents allege that after her husband's death, she searched online for information on whether various drug overdoses could be fatal and whether a body "had to be embalmed," searches investigators say show she was trying to work out how to explain his death or dispose of his remains.

Dalewayne Turner's cousin has described him publicly as well liked. Neighbors in the Plainfield subdivision where the family lived said they had no indication anything was wrong until police cars and evidence teams arrived outside the house after the discovery at Lake Mattoon.

The case is being handled in Cumberland County, where the remains were found and where the concealment and dismemberment charges were originally filed, rather than in Will County, where Plainfield and the family's home are located. Illinois State Police, who led the recovery effort at the lake and the subsequent investigation, announced the new murder counts Friday.

Both Adams and Robin Turner previously appeared in court on the concealment and dismemberment charges and are due back before a judge to face the first-degree murder counts. Neither had entered a plea on the murder charges as of Friday's announcement. Illinois State Police have not said whether additional charges are possible, and no trial date has been set.