Former SC resident charged with 2012 murder of then-girlfriend
SUN CITY – After about 19 months of legal maneuvering and dozens of hearings, it appears that the case of Robert Signorile in connection with Sun City’s only murder in 15 years will be resolved soon.
The trial of the 44-year-old tradesman is scheduled for Nov. 18 in the McHenry County Courthouse in Woodstock. He has requested a jury trial. A plea offer and bargain between prosecutors and Signorile’s public defenders remains a possibility, however. Signorile is charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of his girlfriend Michelle Mathieu on March 24, 2012. The unmarried couple lived in a rented home on Rock Springs Lane in N.10 for several months before her death. Signorile was arrested and charged with first degree murder two days later. He has been held in McHenry County jail ever since on $2 million bond.
On April 19, 2012, Signorile was indicted by a McHenry County grand jury on first degree murder charges. He is accused of “striking Michelle Mathieu repeatedly, knowing such act created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to Michelle Mathieu, thereby causing the death of Michelle Mathieu, on March 24, 2012.”
Presiding over the case is County Criminal Court Judge Sharon Prather. She has heard numerous pre-trial motions by both sides. Most of them have dealt with the kinds of evidence that can be presented at the trial and what legal precedents will affect the evidence.
According to court records, the defendant’s attorneys are preparing a claim that Mathieu’s injuries were caused by falls and fainting from alcohol abuse and epileptic seizures. One of the defendant’s public defenders is Richard Behof.
According to a pre-trial motion filed by prosecutors on Oct. 4, an autopsy performed on Mathieu on March 26 showed 25 bruises to the exterior body, some of which caused internal hemorrhaging, a cut lip, several hemorrhages to the ribs, head, and skull, a partially flattened brain, and two fractured ribs. Police were called to the scene of the couple’s shared home in the late afternoon of March 18, 2012. First responders said they encountered Signorile in the home and found Mathieu “at the foot of the bed in the master bedroom, unconscious, and badly bruised.”
This was the second incident of domestic abuse that occurred in the Sun City home, according to police and court records. In August 2011, shortly after the couple moved into the home, police alleged that Signorile struck and threw a bowl at Mathieu and grabbed her hair. They charged him with domestic battery, and Signorile pled guilty to a reduced charge of battery, a misdemeanor.
Sun City Community Association officials reported in 2012 that neither Signorile nor Mathieu were age-qualified to live in a rented home in the development. This case led to expanded enforcement of the rules of residency in Sun City, requiring homeowners to notify the association if they rent their home, and to verify that at least one resident in
