First reported 7/29/2010 11:57 a.m.
Steven Kellmann, through his attorney, pleaded not guilty to murdering 65-year-old Marilyn Fay at his arraignment in front of Judge Gilbert J. Grossi at the Maybrook courthouse on July 29.
Clad in a tan prison uniform, an unshaven Kellmann was silent as Public Defender Mark Teague entered the plea. Sitting in the courtroom was Fay’s good friend and neighbor, Jean Cavanaugh, who stood up when Kellmann was brought into the courtroom to receive his next court date, Aug. 24.
Also present were a pair of Brookfield Public Library employees, including Director Kimberly Litland and a library page, Michelle Motley. Fay was a part-time reference librarian at the Brookfield Public Library. She reportedly met Kellmann while working there and had hired him to do odd jobs around her house in the 3300 block of Arthur Avenue and gave him a place to stay when he needed one.
Kellmann faces 18 felony charges, including seven for first-degree murder. He was indicted by a Cook County grand jury on July 9. He is accused of stabbing, beating and suffocating Fay either late on June 13 or early on July 14.
Police arrested him on the afternoon of June 14 at a motel on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Inside the motel room, according to police, were bloody clothes and personal items belonging to Fay. Her car, which also had bloodstains inside it, was found parked on a nearby street.
At his bond hearing in June, a Cook County prosecutor stated that Kellmann had used Fay’s cellphone early on June 14 to call family members, saying he’d killed someone.
Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Patty Melin will be prosecuting Kellmann’s case, which will be heard by Judge Noreen Love.
-Bob Uphues
