An argument between a 23-year-old Army veteran who recently had come back from Afghanistan and his wife turned tragic Saturday night when he fatally shot her in the head in their Oak Lawn home, authorities said.
Joseph Jesk, of the 4600 block of West 101st Street, was charged Sunday afternoon with one count of murder, Oak Lawn Police Div. Chief Mike Kaufmann said. A bond hearing for Jesk is set for 9:30 a.m. today.
An Oak Lawn police car is parked Sunday outside the home of Heather Jesk in the 4600 block of West 101st Street. Police found Jesk in the home dead Saturday from a gunshot wound to her head. Joseph Jesk, her husband, has been charged with one count of murder.
(Matt Marton/SouthtownStar)
Police responded to a call from the home at 10:47 p.m. Saturday and found Jesk’s 23-year-old wife, Heather, lying on the basement floor with a gunshot wound to the head, Kaufmann said.
Heather Jesk was pronounced dead at 6:10 a.m. Sunday at the Cook County medical examiner’s office, and an autopsy Sunday ruled her death a homicide, authorities said.
Immediately after the shooting, Joseph Jesk fled from the home, but he called police 15 minutes later to turn himself in, Kaufmann said.
Jesk was taken into custody near 95th Street and Cicero Avenue, and it appeared that he may have been heading to the Oak Lawn police station, Kaufmann said. Officers discovered a knife in Jesk’s pocket when they arrested him, he said.
The Jesks had been at a benefit for another family member earlier in the evening, and police believed Joseph Jesk had been drinking, Kaufmann said. Family members told police that Jesk and his wife had gotten into a fight after coming home and had gone downstairs to the basement when the shooting occurred, he said, and that Jesk had also fought with his father earlier in the evening.
Jesk was discharged from a tour in Afghanistan in mid-January, Kaufmann said, although he did not know the reason for the discharge.
Mayor Dave Heilmann said Sunday that family members told police that Jesk had not been “acting normally” since returning from Afghanistan, and that Jesk had been recounting a violent story about two children in Afghanistan around the time of the shooting.
“There’s no reason for other residents in the neighborhood to be concerned. It’s a very tragic domestic incident,” Heilmann said. “Nobody knows what a soldier goes through. … Our prayers are with the family.”
The Jesks had been living in the basement of Joseph Jesk’s parents’ home, but were planning to move out Sunday to a new place in Crestwood, Heilmann said.
Jesk’s parents were not home at the time of the shooting, Kaufmann said.
Police still were on the scene Sunday afternoon at the Jesk home, and several cars were parked in the driveway. Neighbors who asked not to be identified said that the family had lived on the street for decades and that Joseph Jesk had two siblings.
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