Marcy L. Oglesby, a 53-year-old woman from Illinois, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the murder of her former lover and ex-police chief, Richard “Rick” Young. The conviction and sentencing were the culmination of a complex legal process that began with Oglesby’s arrest in late 2022.
Oglesby was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and aggravated battery during a bench trial in Knox County in June. Knox County Circuit Judge Andrew Doyle handed down the half-century sentence, also crediting Oglesby with 326 days of pretrial detention.
The case revolved around the death of Young, a former chief of the Maquon Police Department, in the fall of 2021. According to Knox County State’s Attorney Ashley Worby, Oglesby poisoned Young, her partner of nearly 30 years, and watched him suffer.
Young’s remains were discovered in a storage unit rented by Oglesby in Maquon, a small village about 60 miles south of the Quad Cities region. Initially, Oglesby was only charged with concealing a non-homicidal death. However, the charges were upgraded in February 2023.
The case took a turn when Oglesby’s defense attorney filed a motion to dismiss the more severe charges under the state’s speedy trial law in March 2023. The charges were dropped in April, only to be refiled in November after prosecutors argued they had gathered sufficient evidence for a conviction.
Key to the prosecution’s case was the testimony of Karen Doubet, who lived with the couple and initially misled investigators about the body in the storage unit. Doubet later revealed that Oglesby had been poisoning Young’s food and drinks with eye drops and crushed medication over the past year.
Oglesby claimed Young died from COVID-19 and that she kept his body in the storage unit because his last wish was to be buried in an “Indian burial mound.” However, a toxicology report found tetrahydrozoline, a common ingredient in over-the-counter eye drops, in Young’s body.
Despite the twists and turns of the case, Judge Doyle found Oglesby guilty after a four-day trial and five minutes of deliberation. Oglesby, however, continues to maintain her innocence.