WOODSTOCK â He was a cruel, belligerent, drunken abuser who beat his girl friend literally to death.
He was a concerned boyfriend who was trying to help his girlfriend deal with seizures and alcoholism.
These are the two sharply contrasting descriptions of Robert Signorile, a former Sun City resident, as he went on trial Nov,. 18 for first degree murder in the 2012 death of his live-in girl friend, Michelle Mathieu, in their Neighborhood 10 Sun City home.
An eight-man, four-woman McHenry County jury is hearing the case in the county’s judicial center in Woodstock. After the jury was selected on Nov. 18, opening statements and testimony got underway the next day.
Signorile, who turns 45 this week, was arrested on March 26, 2012, two days after Mathieu died of injuries she allegedly suffered at Signorile’s hands on the night and early morning of March 17-18. The unmarried couple rented the home from its original owner in the summer of 2012. Signorile was held in McHenry County jail on $2 million bond since his arrest.
The trial proceeded after Signorile’s attorneys rejected a pre-trial offer from prosecutors of a 25-year sentencing. State law requires a 20-60 year sentence in this kind of murder case, if Signorile is found guilty by the jury. If that happens, the actual sentence Signorile receives will be determined by Judge Sharon Prather, who is presiding at the trial.
On March 26, 2012, Sun City renter Robert Signorile was arrested in connection with the death of his partner Michelle Mathieu. His trial began in McHenry County Court on Nov.19. (Photo provided)
Here is a sampling of some of the testimony the jury heard after opening arguments:
A friend of Signorile’s said he was surprised that Signorile did not call 911 after he found Michelle unresponsive and lying in vomit in her bedroom on the early morning of March 18, but instead called the friend and said he âdidn’t know what to do.â He allegedly made the call about 10 hours after he found her unconscious. The friend also testified that Signorile was âworried about being charged with somethingâ on March 18, the day Mathieu was taken to Sherman Hospital. He also testified that Signorile did not go into the hospital to see or talk with Mathieu during her six-day stay there until her death, but stayed in a car in the parking lot.
Prosecutor Patrick Kenneally told jurors that Signorile was arrested and charged with domestic battery against Mathieu in August 2012, shortly after moving into Sun City. Kenneally also said physicians at Sherman Hospital told him her injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma, and were not consistent with falls.
Kenneally also showed a surveillance video showing Signorile purchased alcohol and dog food at a Jewel supermarket in Huntley at 7 a.m. on March 18, at the time Mathieu lay unconscious on the bedroom floor in their home.
Mathieu’s son said his mother and Signorile moved to Sun City in 2011 because they viewed the community as cheaper and nicer, but Michelle did not like it in the community, largely because she was not allowed to have a car and didn’t know anyone.
âShe felt trapped,â he said.
On cross examination, he admitted that in the first few years of their relationship, Signorile and his mother had a trusting relationship, and he never saw him physically abuse her.
Prosecutors said that, when Mathieu arrived at Sherman, one side of her brain had been flattened, she had bruises and deep wounds over several parts of her body, acute rib fractures, a damaged eye, and a cut lip.
Two Huntley police officers that were called to the scene testified that they observed severe bruising on Mathieu’s head and body, and that Signorile told them she drank a lot and fell often.
One of the prosecutors told the Sun Day this week that he expected the trial to conclude on Friday, Nov. 22.
