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PEORIA — The murder of two LeRoy brothers in March 2009 could have been avoided if LeRoy police had taken seriously the intense fears the boys’ mother had about the man who killed them, according to claims filed in a federal lawsuit.
Jack Leichtenberg, 7, and his brother Duncan, 9, would be alive if LeRoy police had initiated a search for the boys immediately after they were not returned by their father, Michael Connelly, on March 8, said Amy Leichtenberg, the boys’ mother, in documents filed Friday related to her $10 million lawsuit against the city of LeRoy and several police officers.
Connelly killed the children and himself. Their bodies were found about three weeks after the abduction in rural Putnam County. Authorities think the boys probably were killed March 10.
The efforts by LeRoy police to find the boys came under scrutiny soon after their disappearance. Police who monitored Connolly’s pickup and delivery of the children at the police station were well aware of the tension between the parents and more than 50 complaints Leichtenberg filed against Connolly for violating an order of protection.
Leichtenberg contacted LeRoy police hours before Connelly was scheduled to pick up the boys for an overnight visit and relayed her fears about his unstable behavior. An officer threatened her with arrest if she refused to comply with the court-ordered visitation, she claims.
In the lawsuit, LeRoy police are accused of telling Illinois State Police that an Amber Alert should not be issued because the boys were not in any danger. An alert was issued 26 hours after the boys disappeared, following the collection of additional information by prosecutors, Leichtenberg’s lawyer and McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery.
The delays in notifying the public about the abduction “allowed Mr. Connolly the opportunity to kill the boys during the two days after they went missing before their death,” Leichtenberg charges in the lawsuit filed in August.
In their reply, lawyers for the city and its officers deny the officers’ actions created the danger that ultimately led to the boys’ deaths. The city also claims the officers’ actions are immune from the civil action and has asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.
A hearing date on that motion has not been set. A court schedule requires both sides to be ready for a Sept. 19 jury trial.
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