Crime & Safety

Man Charged With New Lenox Township Murder Refuses to Leave Jail For Court

The judge just told the lawyer for alleged killer Jason Gonzalez to come back tomorrow.

A New Lenox soldier charged with killing his uncle refused to leave the county jail for a Wednesday morning court hearing.

"The sheriff reports he refuses he refuses to come to court this morning," Will County Judge Edward Burmila told Gabriel Guzman, the attorney for Jason Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, 27, has been jailed more than four years on charges he murdered his uncle Lance Goebel in September 2009. Gonzalez allegedly shot Goebel numerous times with a 9-mm handgun, then stole $1,000 and his uncle's Chevy HHR. The vehicle was later located about a mile from Goebel's residence in New Lenox Township.

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Goebel's wife found her husband dead in the home. Several days later, the police caught Gonzalez sleeping in his mother's 1997 Saturn, which he reportedly borrowed from her shortly before the killing. Gonzalez was parked behind a bush on Larkin Avenue in Joliet, police said.

Gonzalez had lived with Goebel but his uncle kicked him out not long before the murder, police said. In between his departure from his uncle's home and the killing, Gonzalez sent an email to an aunt living in Seattle and told her he was going to "get even" with Goebel, according to court papers.

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Gonzalez was stationed in Guantanamo Bay during his eight months in the Army in 2005 and 2006. His time in the military was cut short when he was discharged for medical reasons, according to a filing which claimed Gonzalez was "given a diagnosis of personality disorder with passive aggressive and borderline features."

The filing also said that prior to his discharge, Gonzalez suffered from "major depressive disorder, moderate severe, single episode, though complicated by longer-standing personality traits."

Judge Burmila rescheduled Gonzalez's hearing for Wednesday.

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