Man charged with concealing shooting death of missing Joliet bartender

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A man has been charged with concealing the death of a Joliet bartender who was found shot dead in Kankakee County several days after she was reported missing.

Jeremy Boshears, 32, of Coal City, was charged with a felony count of concealing a homicidal death in connection with the disappearance of Kaitlyn Kearns, according to a statement from the Will County sheriff’s office. He was arrested Friday morning.

Detectives believe that 24-year-old Kearns met Boshears about four weeks ago while working at Woody’s Bar, 1005 E. Washington St. in Joliet, and that they had been dating for the past two weeks, the sheriff’s office said.

Kearns was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday after an overnight search in a rural area of Kankakee County, the sheriff’s office said. Her body was found in the back of her 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee “in a pole barn located on private property in Aroma Park Township.”

Investigators “do not believe that the property owner was involved or had knowledge of the concealment,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Kearns, of Mokena, was pronounced dead at the scene and her death is being investigated as a homicide, according to the sheriff’s office. Her father had reported her missing about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Kearns was last seen about 1:30 a.m. Monday leaving her job at Woody’s Bar, 1005 E. Washington St. in Joliet, the sheriff’s office said. She was driving east on Washington Street in her Jeep.

Boshears was ordered held on a $250,000 bond and was expected to be booked into the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee County on Friday, the sheriff’s office said.