Capron, IL: Capron man convicted of wife's murder despite no body found

Jennifer Hullinger, Brynn's cousin
By Marissa Alter

BELVIDERE (WREX) - An eight-year nightmare is finally over for the family of Brynn Null. The 25-year-old vanished in November 2002. Tonight a jury convicted her husband, Aaron Null, of murder.

Jurors got the case just before 6 pm. Six men and six women had seven days of evidence to consider. In the end, it took them less than three hours to decide Aaron killed Brynn in their Capron bedroom.

13 News talked with Brynn's family just before the verdict came down.

"It's been a long eight years," Brynn's cousin, Jennifer Hullinger, said. "We've been waiting for the day to come. Now that it's here, I'm a nervous wreck. I'm scared, but I'm also hopeful."

Hopeful that prosecutors' arguments got through to the jury. The state painted Aaron Null as a violent man with a history of domestic violence against Brynn. Family testified in court they hid Brynn after fights with Aaron.

Investigators also told the jury blood spatter found on the couple's bedroom wall matched Brynn's. So did a large blood stain, 18 inches by 22 inches, found on their mattress.

The defense countered, that's not enough. There's no murder weapon and no body.

"I appreciate the fact this is not the first murder case done without a body. However, then you have to somehow prove this person is indeed dead, and at the moment, we don't have proof," says Azhar Minhaz, Aaron Null's public defender. "There is only, 'Gee folks, there was some blood found and guess what, she must be dead.'"

The defense portrayed Brynn as a drug user who left her husband several times in the past. Minhaz told the court, this time Brynn left Aaron for good.

"He went to bed. He woke up. She wasn't home."

But the state says no one ever saw Brynn leave the couple's Capron home the night of November 16.

Family members have no doubt the man Brynn feared, killed her.

"That first Thanksgiving, she did not show up for dinner--I knew right then and there. She'd never miss Thanksgiving or Christmas," Hullinger says. "No. She was a family girl."

The prosecution would not go on camera today, neither would Aaron Null's family at the trial.

Sentencing is set for February.