Prosecutors say the case began with a late-night drive and ended with three people dead in unincorporated Will County.
CRETE TOWNSHIP, Ill. — An Indiana woman accused of killing the father of her two children and then fatally shooting his mother and stepfather in a nearby home is being held in Illinois on nine counts of first-degree murder as prosecutors seek to keep her jailed before trial.
The case has drawn intense attention because of the detailed account prosecutors laid out in court and because the killings struck one family in rapid sequence over a few hours. Jenna Strouble, 30, of St. John, Indiana, is accused in the March 23 deaths of Jacob Lambert, 32, Stacy Forde, 54, and Patrick Forde, 55, in unincorporated Crete Township. Prosecutors say the shootings were targeted and domestic in nature, and a detention hearing is now expected April 6 as the case moves deeper into Will County court.
Authorities say the public part of the case began at 2:01 a.m. March 23, when Will County sheriff’s deputies were sent to the 3400 block of East Norway Trail after a call from Strouble’s sister. Prosecutors said the sister told dispatchers Strouble had said she shot three people. When deputies reached the home, they found Patrick Forde dead in the front dining room and Stacy Forde dead on the stairs near the entry. Lambert was found outside in a black 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium, lying face down in the reclined front passenger seat. Earlier that night, prosecutors said, Strouble had picked Lambert up around 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. after asking him to hang out and go for a drive. The sheriff’s office described the case in its early public statements as a targeted incident and said there was no wider threat to the community.
By the time deputies reached the Crete Township address, officers in St. John had already gone to Strouble’s home in northwest Indiana. Prosecutors said she came outside and handed officers a bag containing a loaded Glock 19 fitted with a suppressor. A vehicle registered to Lambert was nearby, and the couple’s two young children, ages 4 and 3, were inside the home with Strouble’s parents, according to prosecutors. Investigators then questioned Strouble, and the detention filing described a long confession. Prosecutors said she told investigators she had gone out that night “with an intention,” then nodded yes when asked whether that intention was to hurt Lambert at his home. Like all defendants, Strouble is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charges in court. No trial date has been announced, and no plea was entered in the early hearings summarized in public reports.
The most detailed allegations concern what prosecutors say happened before Lambert was killed. According to court summaries reported from the detention filing, Strouble told investigators she and Lambert first drove toward Plum Creek Nature Preserve, but the site was closed. She then pulled over on Burnham Road in Sauk Village and told him she had a surprise and wanted to give him a back massage. Prosecutors said she had brought a massage gun because Lambert had complained about back pain and about her not doing enough for him. Lambert reclined the seat, removed his shirt and hat, and lay on his stomach, prosecutors said. Strouble then straddled him and massaged his back for about 20 minutes. During that time, prosecutors allege, she took a Glock pistol that had been hidden under the passenger seat and held it to the back of his head for about eight minutes before shooting him. CBS Chicago, citing prosecutors, reported that Strouble said she thought about putting the gun down and doing it another day, but instead fired into the back of Lambert’s head.
Prosecutors say the attack did not end there. After shooting Lambert, they allege, Strouble climbed off his body, smoked a cigarette and drove to the home where Lambert’s mother and stepfather lived in Crete Township. She used Lambert’s keys while trying to get inside, prosecutors said, and Patrick Forde came to the door after hearing noise. ABC7 Chicago reported from court that prosecutors said Patrick Forde was shot 17 times and Stacy Forde was shot three times after she came downstairs. CBS Chicago’s account of the hearing said Strouble told prosecutors that Patrick Forde opened the door, asked why she was there and whether Lambert was with her, and that she then began shooting from the porch and continued into the house. Investigators said several shell casings were recovered at the scene. Public reports do not indicate that prosecutors have identified any accomplice, and authorities have not suggested anyone else was involved.
Prosecutors have also outlined evidence they say points to planning. The detention filing says Strouble bought the gun in December at Sheepdog Armory in Crown Point, Indiana, and purchased the suppressor online. When investigators searched her bedroom, prosecutors said, they found two more suppressors, spent shell casings and ammunition. Assistant State’s Attorney Tricia McKenna argued in a petition seeking detention that there is “no condition of pretrial release” that would protect the community or Strouble’s own parents. Shaw Local also reported that prosecutors pointed to a January 2025 incident in which Will County deputies responded to a domestic battery call and mental health crisis involving Strouble, after which she was involuntarily committed. Those details are part of the state’s argument for detention, not proof of the murder charges themselves, but they show how prosecutors plan to frame the case as both deliberate and dangerous.
The motive described so far is narrow, personal and still incomplete. Prosecutors said Strouble gave little explanation beyond saying she disliked the way Lambert spoke to their children and viewed his family as overbearing. CBS Chicago reported that the filing says she also complained that Lambert had showered with a toddler, that people took naps with the children, that Stacy Forde was “snarky,” and that she did not think the children were safe with Lambert or even with her own parents. Prosecutors further said she told investigators she had considered killing her own parents but did not think she could go through with it. Those allegations have not been tested at trial, and public reporting has not described any prior court finding related to the parenting complaints summarized by prosecutors. What is clearer is the family structure around the case. Prosecutors said Strouble and Lambert started dating in 2020, briefly lived together, shared two children and still maintained what they described as an occasional intimate relationship while co-parenting.
The legal track has shifted several times in a matter of days. Strouble was first arrested in Indiana, then waived extradition in Lake County on March 26. The Will County Sheriff’s Office later said its warrants unit picked her up and transported her to the county jail in Joliet on March 28. She appeared in Will County court March 30 without her lawyer present, and the hearing was pushed back. ABC7 reported Monday night that officials moved the expected Tuesday court date, and Shaw Local later reported that a formal detention hearing was set for April 6 because defense attorney David Drwencke was tied up in another homicide trial in Cook County. Prosecutors are seeking to hold Strouble without release under Illinois’ SAFE-T Act framework, which permits pretrial detention in murder cases if the state shows no conditions can adequately reduce the risk. The defense position on the allegations has not yet been laid out in detail in open court reporting.
The killings have also left a visible trail of grief outside the charging papers. ABC7 reported that members of Strouble’s family and loved ones of Lambert and the Fordes were in court during the first appearance and were visibly distressed. Photos from Shaw Local showed police tape around the Norway Trail home and county animal protection workers retrieving a family dog from the property after the investigation began. Lambert’s mother was also remembered publicly by her employer. WBBM reported that Roeda, a Lynwood sign company where Stacy Forde worked as finance director, said in a Facebook tribute that it mourned her, Patrick Forde and Lambert with “heavy hearts” and called Stacy Forde “the backbone of Roeda” for 21.5 years. That public mourning has stood beside the cold details in the prosecutors’ filing, one showing what investigators say happened, the other showing what the losses looked like to people who knew the family outside the courtroom.
As of Thursday, Strouble remained in the Will County jail, the nine murder counts were still pending and prosecutors were still seeking pretrial detention. The next major public step is the April 6 hearing, when a judge is expected to decide whether she stays jailed while the triple homicide case moves ahead.
Author note: Last updated April 2, 2026.