He Killed His Own Father: Joliet Man Learns Prison Sentence From Judge Sarah Jones

JOLIET, IL — After spending the past three years and eight months housed inside the Will County Jail, 35-year-old Fairlane Drive resident Jakeem Williams admitted he was guilty of firing six gunshots inside his family's Joliet house, killing his 50-year-old Matthew Woodfork.

Williams was returned to the Will County Courthouse on Friday morning for his guilty plea and sentencing in Courtroom 501 of Judge Sarah Jones.

Williams pleaded guilty to his first-degree murder charge, which carried a sentencing range of 20 to 60 years of prison time. Under the plea bargain worked out with Williams, prosecutors asked Judge Jones to impose a 30-year prison sentence, and she ultimately agreed to do so.

“Violence within a family is particularly devastating,” Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow declared in his press release issued after the sentencing. “Williams took his own father’s life, leaving loved ones to deal with an unimaginable loss. Today’s sentence holds him accountable for that horrific crime.”

The sentence will be served at 100 percent. Williams does receive credit for the time he has already served in custody at the Will County Jail since his Joliet police arrest on March 28, 2023.

Williams' two court-appointed public defenders informed Judge Jones that Williams had decided not to issue any statements or remarks before being sentenced.

"How do you plead to first-degree murder, guilty or not guilty?" Judge Jones asked the defendant on Friday morning.

"Guilty," Williams responded.

During Friday's plea and sentencing, the Will County prosecutors explained that the 911 call was made at 3:57 p.m. by a 15-year-old half-brother of Willams, who relayed that "his brother is shooting a gun at his dad, and he heard three gunshots."

Joliet police found Woodfork, the shooting victim, in his garage in the 700 block of Fairlane Drive, and he later died at St. Joe's hospital. The autopsy showed he suffered four gunshots to his back, four bullets were lodged inside his body, "and he did die as a result," the prosecutor told Jones.

Prosecutors explained that Williams had been in an argument with his mother over babysitting and not contributing to his part. As the argument intensified, Woodfork "stepped into the argument" suggesting "he would take the argument over."

According to prosecutors, Williams' parents had also shut off his cell phone service "and they would not turn it back on." As the argument intensified, Williams displayed his six-shot revolver and announced he had a gun in his hand, and Woodfork told him, "I will make you use it. He shot six times from his .38-revolver," prosecutors said Friday.

After shooting his parent, Williams drove south of Joliet out to the Dollar Tree warehouse off Route 53 and hid the revolver out in a field. The gun was later recovered by police.

During Friday's sentencing, Williams said he suffers from schizophrenia and has completed one year of college. His criminal past includes a 2013 battery from DuPage County and a 2016 domestic battery against his wife in Tennessee.

Before announcing the sentencing, Judge Jones silently read a victim impact statement written by one of the grieving family members. The letter was impounded and not shared with the courtroom. "It was profoundly eloquent. A very, very, sad situation," Judge Jones announced in court.

Once the sentencing ended, the sheriff's deputies moved in to put Williams back in handcuffs and lead him back to the jail and eventually to the Illinois Department of Corrections for his prison assignment.

"Take care of yourself, sir," Judge Jones told the killer.

In March 2023, Joliet Patch was in the courtroom when prosecutor Christopher Koch told Will County Judge Marzell Richardson Sr. that an altercation between Williams and his mother preceding the deadly shooting involved "an argument over his contribution to living in the house."

Inside the two-story family house at 716 Fairlane Drive, Williams was at the top of his stairs with his mother when his other parent, Woodfork, intervened, the prosecutor said. Williams pulled out a gun and shot Woodfork several times, and the shooting was witnessed by several children, Koch said. There were five minor children inside the house when the homicide happened, he said.

6 Gunshots Fired At Joliet Homicide Victim At Close Range

Koch said a total of six gunshots were fired before Williams ran outside and drove away. After Williams was captured near Elwood, he gave an interview with Joliet police detectives, leading them to a farm field where he had disposed of the revolver he used in Woodfork's killing, according to the Will County prosecutor.

When Joliet police recovered the gun, it had six spent shell casings, consistent with the evidence that six gunshots were fired at the homicide victim at close range.

Earlier that day at the Fairlane Drive home, Joliet police found Woodfork bleeding inside his open garage, and he later died at St. Joe's hospital.

According to the 2023 testimony, Williams had told Joliet police he was in an argument inside the house on Fairlane Drive, that he had pulled out his gun and slammed a door on his father, and his father replied, "I'll make you use it."

One of the children inside the house, a 15-year-old, called 911 to notify Joliet police of the shooting just a few minutes before 4 p.m.

The 15-year-old told 911 dispatchers that "his brother is shooting a gun at his father," Koch told the judge.

"He had a gun and shot him as he was going down the stairs," Koch told the courtroom.

At the time of the murder, Williams, then 32, had no criminal history in Will County, and his Will County public defender asked the judge to give Williams a reasonable bond.