Former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, who was convicted last year of shooting an unarmed woman, has begun serving his 20-year prison sentence with the Illinois Department of Corrections in an undisclosed location. IDOC confirmed that Grayson, 31, is in their custody but won’t confirm his whereabouts. A source close to the case said […]
Beth Hundsdorfer
Beth Hundsdorfer joined the Capitol News Illinois team as a full-time reporter in November 2021.
Hundsdorfer is a veteran investigative reporter who spent nearly 20 years at the Belleville News-Democrat, 13 of which were spent on the investigative beat.
Her resume includes two John Jay College Journalism awards for excellence in criminal justice, a National Headliners Grand Award, a George Polk Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for local reporting among other accolades.
Prior to joining Capitol News Illinois, she had a brief stint at St. Louis Public Radio, and she spent two years as the public information officer at the Illinois State Police, fielding news media inquiries on issues ranging from traffic crashes to policy and procedure.
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Fifth person dies as a result of Chatham afterschool program crash
An 8-year-old boy is the most recent casualty of a car crash at a Chatham daycare April 28. Bradley Lund, 8, has been in a Springfield hospital since the collision at YNOT Outdoors five weeks ago, according to Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. Bradley sustained “multiple blunt force injuries” when a black Jeep driven by […]
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Longtime Chicago friend describes first American pope as ‘very dedicated’
As the red velvet curtains at the Vatican parted, a priest realized that his college pal from the South Side of Chicago that he knows as “Bob” had been elected the first American pope. “Oh, dear God,” the Very Rev. Anthony Benedetto Pizzo, the prior provincial of the Augustinian Order in Chicago, said as he […]
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Driver of deadly crash at after-school camp is a former State Police employee
The driver of a vehicle involved in a deadly crash Monday at an after-school program formerly worked for the Illinois State Police, the agency investigating the crash. The ISP identified the driver as Marianne Akers, 44, of Chatham. She worked at the ISP from June 2006 to August 2018, an ISP spokesman confirmed Tuesday. The […]
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Questions remain over whether Sangamon County followed policy in deadly pursuit
As the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office led a multi-county pursuit last month that ended in the death of a 43-year-old Kansas man, Illinois State Police directed troopers not to participate. A Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office news release issued a week after Kirtis Shane Davenport’s death stated “various other law enforcement agencies” assisted, but ISP confirmed […]
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Illinois State Police investigate another Sangamon County officer-involved death
Illinois State Police launched an investigation into the death of a Kansas man during a multi-county pursuit on Sept. 22 by Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputies. Kirtis Shane Davenport, 43, died on Sept. 26 at St. Louis University Hospital, according to the St. Louis City Medical Examiner. An autopsy was completed on Oct. 1 to determine […]
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A deadly delay
An Illinois law intended to help people with mental illness avoid confrontations with police had been on the books for three years when Sonya Massey was shot by a Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy. The Community Emergency Services and Supports Act, or CESSA, requires mental and behavioral health calls to 911 be handled by mental health […]
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Attorney seeks class-action status in funeral home lawsuit
As many as 800 families across the country who patronized a Carlinville funeral home may never know if the remains on their mantles belong to their loved ones, according to an affidavit signed by Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. The affidavit was filed in a lawsuit pending against Carlinville-based Heinz Funeral Home and its director […]
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In crisis, she went to an Illinois facility. Two years later, she still isn’t able to leave.
Kaleigh Rogers was in crisis when she checked into a state-run institution on Illinois’ northern border two years ago. Rogers, who has cerebral palsy, had a mental health breakdown during the pandemic and was acting aggressively toward herself and others. Before COVID-19, she had been living in a small group home; she had been taking […]
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Man who pleaded guilty to arson named fire chief
Jerame Simmons got his long-held wish in December 2021 when he became the chief of the fire department that dismissed him 24 years ago after he was charged with setting fire to a vacant house and attempting to burn down his high school. It took a prosecutor’s dismissal of a serious felony arson charge, a […]
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IDOC makes plan to close units at Vandalia and Pontiac prisons
The Illinois Department of Corrections is making plans to downsize – plans that a major public employee union claims have not been shared with its members. With statewide inmate population dwindling to 28,000 and mounting maintenance bills on prison buildings at correctional centers across the state, DOC developed a plan which may include significant downsizing […]
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DCFS director quizzed on contempt citations, child deaths and employee safety
It was a full afternoon of questioning for Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith, who appeared before the House Human Services Appropriations Committee for a three-and-a-half-hour virtual hearing Friday, Jan. 28. “This hearing comes in the wake of recent reports of the department; the litigation issues, the court findings in recent […]
