(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Pingree Grove man has been accused of kidnapping and murdering 57-year-old James Cromwell, of Crystal Lake, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office announced.
Officials charged 61-year-old Douglas Ottesen, of the 600 block of North Falls Circle, with nearly a dozen felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
Cromwell was reported missing earlier this year, and the early findings from a police investigation that began in early April suggested that his disappearance was “criminal in nature,” prosecutors said.
The investigation eventually led authorities to obtain search warrants for two properties — one in Hampshire at a property listed on the 45W200 block of Illinois Route 72, and another at Ottesen’s residence in Pingree Grove.
Authorities searched the properties on May 7, and officials said they found human remains, which would later be identified as Cromwell, at the Hampshire property.
An autopsy found that Cromwell had been shot to death.
Ottesen is currently being held in the Kane County Jail while his case is pending.
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