Man accused of attempted murder in South Jacksonville last week to make first court appearance today

By Gary Scott on June 19, 2018 at 7:23am

The man accused of attempted murder in the death of South Jacksonville woman last week is set to make his first appearance in Morgan County court today.

Twenty-four year old Glenn VanAvery, of 1335 South Diamond, was apprehended by local authorities late last Wednesday night after officers from South Jacksonville Police, Jacksonville Police and Illinois State Police Crime Services determined he was the primary suspect in the murder of his mother, 53-year old Ruth VanAvery, of the 17-hundred block of South East.

On the night of Wednesday, June 13th, local law enforcement was forced to close off a rather large portion of South East Street, from Vandalia to Greenwood, for several hours starting shortly after 6:30 when the first officers arrived. A disturbance call sent officers to a residence in the 17-hundred block of South East, where, upon arrival, officers discovered male standing outside of the residence believed to be Glenn VanAvery.

After police made entry into the residence, they the discovered the deceased body of 53-year old Ruth VanAvery, the mother of Glenn VanAvery, who appeared to have been stabbed multiple times. Several minutes later, as officers from other local agencies such as Jacksonville Police arrived, a second male was discovered bleeding and lying in a driveway just a few houses down from the residence in which the dead body of Ruth VanAvery was discovered. Following some preliminary investigation, it was determined that the injured male is in fact the brother to the primary suspect Glenn VanAvery, and the son of the now-deceased Ruth VanAvery.

According to Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll, Glenn VanAvery is scheduled to make his first appearance in Morgan County this morning at 10:30. At this first appearance, the 24-year old VanAvery will be hear of all of charges that the state alleges he committed on the evening of Wednesday, June 13th which, based on preliminary booking reports, includes charges of alleged attempted murder and aggravated assault.

While those were initially the only charges alleged against VanAvery, South Jacksonville Police said that further charges were expected pending the autopsy results of Ruth VanAvery. Whether or not those additional charges have or will be filed will be revealed during this morning’s appearance.