A mom with a history of mental-health trouble has been charged with murdering her on-off boyfriend and his parents in a crime that has shaken their idyllic small Midwestern town.
Jenna Strouble, 30, was arrested after the father of her kids, Jacob Lambert, 32, was found dead in his car outside his family home in Crete Township, Illinois, early Monday — and his mom, Stacy Forde, 54, and dad, Patrick Forde, 55, inside the front door, CBS Chicago reported. All three had been shot.
Strouble was arrested a few hours later in her home just across state lines in St. John, Ind. — and found with a firearm matching the one used in the triple murders, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.
The accused killer had a troubled, on-off relationship with Lambert, who recently became sober, according to his family and officials. The couple had two young kids, Ella and Rhett.
Deputies were previously called to a domestic battery at the house they shared in January last year — which ended with Strouble being involuntarily committed, according to the report, which did not elaborate.
She is now being held at the Lake County, Indiana, jail awaiting extradition to Illinois on nine counts of first-degree murder under the state’s so-called “One Good Count” rule allowing multiple counts over a single crime.
The bloodshed shocked the small town of Crete, which calls itself “the perfect blend of small-town charm and significant conveniences – an ideal place to raise a family or establish your business.”
“Our hearts are incredibly heavy, and there truly aren’t words for a loss like this,” one of Lambert’s relatives, Emily Conner, wrote on Facebook.
“Jake had just celebrated one year of sobriety something we were so proud of and that meant so much.
“Ella and Rhett are going to miss their Dad, Papa and Grandma more than words can express,” she added.
Forde worked as the director of finance at Roeda, a printing company based in Lynwood, Ill.
“It is with heavy hearts that we grieve the loss of our own Stacy Forde, her loving husband Patrick Forde, and eldest son Jake Lambert,” the company said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
“As the Director of Finance, Stacy took her role here seriously and was the backbone of Roeda for 21.5 years,” the post continued, describing Forde as a “wonderful woman who deeply valued her marriage, her children, her grandchildren, and her relationship with Christ.”
The Facebook post asked the public to keep Forde’s one surviving son and her extended family in their prayers.