Police released more details Tuesday into the grisly double murder of an 82-year-old woman and a 61-year-old woman in an Antioch apartment.
Billy E. Varner, 54, of Antioch, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and Lake County Judge Raymond Collins accepted a motion Tuesday to deny bond for Varner. Varner remains in custody at the Lake County Jail, according to a news release from the Lake County Office of the State's Attorney.
Varner is accused of striking his wife in the head and face with a machete on Oct. 26 after she began "wheezing in her sleep" and then going on to stab her multiple times in the chest, according to the press release.
Police said after killing his wife, Peggy Henderson, 61, he covered her up with a blanket and left her on the bed of their Antioch apartment, according to the news release.
He told police he then believed his mom, Dorothy Varner, 82, was becoming suspicious. On Oct. 28, he found his mother playing solitaire in the kitchen and placed a towel and garbage bag over her nose and mouth "until she stopped breathing," according to the news release.
Billy Varner then left town in his brother's van, according to the news release. His brother called looking for the van and then went to the apartment where he found the mother lying on the floor.
Police were contacted and found Henderson's body soaked in blood, nearly decapitated and with several severed fingers, according to the news release.
Billy Varner was arrested on Nov. 2 in North Dakota after he stole a shotgun from an unlocked pick-up struck and entered a Catholic Church where he demand money and robbed the patrons inside.
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