By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
After more than 19 years, the prime suspect in the death of a 14-year-old Illinois runaway has been convicted.
James P. Eaton, who was arrested in April of 2014, pled no contest to amended charges Oct. 25 in Racine County Circuit Court.
Eaton’s initial charge of first-degree intentional homicide was changed to read as “party to a crime.” The count of hiding a corpse was dismissed but read in.
Court records over the past month show an investigative interview of a person of interest from 1998 being allowed as evidence, as a “Michael Davis” may have been the third party in the crime.
However, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said Tuesday that Eaton, of Palatine, Ill., remains the only party charged in the case.
“The Creek family is one step closer to finally obtaining justice and closure for Amber,” Schmaling said on the case.
According to information provided after Eaton’s arrest in 2014, fingerprints and DNA from the case were entered into state and national databases at the time of the crime. However, it was not until February of that year that a hit came up on either. Eaton, who would’ve been 19 at the time of the murder, had not previously been a suspect in the case.
According to Burlington Standard Press archives, the body of Creek, also of Palatine, Ill., was found on February 9, 1997, by two men who were scouting for hunting areas in the Karcher Springs State Natural Area near Schaal Road and the Kenosha County line in the Town of Burlington.
Creek – who had been beaten, sexually assaulted and suffocated with a plastic bag, according to investigators at the time – remained unidentified for 16 months after he body was discovered.
According to reports, her body had been posed with an upraised hand and the word “Hi” written on her palm.
Court records Tuesday indicated that the state would recommend prison time and stand silent as to the amount of time, while the defense asked any indication of intentional homicide be removed.
Sentencing for Eaton is scheduled for Jan. 20 at 1:30 p.m.
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