Mom of 2 Boys Apparently Slain By Dad Blames Ill. Court, Seeks Name Change
When a family court judge in Illinois told Michael Connolly to get a job, find a home of his own and stop harassing his wife, he did just that.
For months he behaved as the judge required and was rewarded with unsupervised visits with his two sons, Jack, 7, and Duncan, 9. Then, after another several more months passed, the 40-year-old father apparently killed his two sons last month, according to the Chicago Tribune and other news coverage.
Their bodies, and the body of their father, were found Sunday in a remote area of Putnam County, three weeks after he failed to return his sons to their mother after a scheduled visit. Officials won’t say how the boys died; their father reportedly hanged himself.
The heartbroken mother of the two boys, Amy Leichtenberg, blames the McLean County Circuit judge who ordered the unsupervised visitation for her sons’ murders. However, state law makes it very difficult for a judge to order supervised visitation when there has been a long period without clear threats to a child’s health or safety, experts tell the Tribune. Meanwhile, it wasn’t just the judge but law enforcement officials and social workers who saw no immediate threat, according to the story.
Leichtenberg is petitioning to have the judge removed from the bench. And she is also seeking a new court order: to change her sons’ last name so they will no longer have that connection with her ex-husband, the Tribune reports.
The boys’ funeral will be held Friday.
Additional coverage:
Courier News: “Local ties: Slain boys had nowhere to run”
Northwest Herald: “Family troubles for boys found dead began in Algonquin”
