A man will spend the next 57 years of his life in the Illinois Department Human Services for in-patient treatment for the murder of his mother and attempted murder of his brother in 2018.
26 year old Glenn Van Avery was given a THIEM date of June 13, 2078 yesterday in Morgan County Court. Van Avery was found not guilty by reason of insanity in June.
Van Avery was arrested on June 13, 2018 after his mother, 53 year old Ruth Van Avery was found dead in the family’s home in the 1700 block of South East Street in South Jacksonville and his brother, Garrick Van Avery, was found in a driveway just a few homes away, suffering from stab wounds.
Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll explains the sentencing process for Van Avery: “As a result of that sentence, the defendant was remanded to the custody of the [Illinois] Department of Human Services in a secure facility in-patient basis for a maximum amount of time of 60 years. Sixty years is being what’s called his THIEM date, and that is based on the maximum amount of time he would be looking at in the Department of Corrections if he was found guilty of the most serious offense, which is first degree murder.”
Noll says that he hopes the sentencing today will bring closure to victim’s widow and the Van Avery family: “Thje decedent’s widow was obviously here [at the hearings] throughout the case, and had an obvious vested interest in the outcome. Hopefully this resolution gives her and the rest of the family some sort of closure. It’s never easy to lose a loved one. It’s never easy to lose a loved one under these circumstances, but hopefully this resolution brings some ability to move forward.”
The closure of the case brings an end to a nearly 3-year period of various mental health evaluations, continuances, and delayed settings due to Covid-19 in Van Avery’s trial. After the hearing, Van Avery was remanded to the custody of DHS officials and has been currently serving his detention at the Chester Mental Health Center.