IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE   NINETEENTH JUDICIAL
CIRCUIT, LAKE  COUNTY, ILLINOIS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

VS.

Adam Christensen

GENERAL NO.  04 cf 2643
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT

I, Geralyn Willding , pursuant to 725 Illinois Compiled Statutes, 120/6(a) do hereby make the following statement as to the impact which the offense committed by the above named defendant has had upon my daughter, my family and me:

In December of 1997 my three girls and I moved into our new home in Ingleside. We had lived in Antioch since 1982. I was looking for a house in a safe neighborhood with good schools.  I had searched and searched then one day I got a call from a friend who told me of a builder who had bought a lot in a well established neighborhood in Ingleside. It was a community watch neighborhood with an Association. Everyone knew everyone else. It was in a great school district and had lots of children. I talked with the builder and felt fortunate to find such a wonderful home in a safe area that I could afford.

It was a new beginning for Courtney, Stephanie, Liz and I. It was the four of us against the world. We use to call ourselves the four musketeers, because we thought together the four of us could get through anything. Liz loved her new school and her friendships. She became very involved in her school and played a big part in the cancer walk every year to raise money. Liz was a kind and gentle soul. I always said she was a wise old
soul in a young body. She cared about people and had a strong belief system. When her three best friends from Gavin became involved in drugs and alcohol during high school, she told them she didn’t approve and to please not do it in front of her. When they continued and disregarded her wishes, she stopped hanging out with them but still would extend her friendship to them by saying “Hi” in the halls.

She was the most nonjudgmental human being I have ever met. She always stood up for the underdog. If someone was being made fun of, Liz would step in and stand up for them.   Even as a small child her drive to help others or as a team member was remarkable.  At age 7 during a soccer game she hurt her arm and after sitting out 10 minutes she begged the coach to allow her play.  She scored the winning goal and later we found out she had a broken wrist. Lizzie always had a smile on her face that lit up the world. If you looked into her eyes you could see the beauty in her inside and out.

Liz fit right into the neighborhood we chose to live in.  It appeared to be an ideal place to raise children of all ages. As parents we never worried about where our children were because they would be in a group together at one of the houses on our street. We didn’t think anything of leaving our doors unlocked. I realize now what a false sense of security we had.
On July 13, 2004 my cell phone rang.  Lizzie was on the phone crying saying her Xbox was gone. I reassured her that it had probably been packed up by mistake with her sister’s things. Courtney was moving on July 13th and had friends helping her. When I got home Lizzie was still crying. She thought someone had come into our house where she always felt safe and had taken her treasured Xbox. Her Xbox was very important to her because with her busy schedule it was her way to relax. She was devastated when it was gone. She was a real movie buff and she used her Xbox not only to play games but to also watch her movies.

The last time I saw my daughter, I was hugging her and reassuring her that everything was OK. The last time I saw my daughter alive I was assuring her she was safe in our home. She didn’t have to worry. I held her, wiped her tears and we told each other how much we loved one another. Every day I live with the thoughts of what I could have done differently. I live with the fact every day that I reassured my Liz that she was safe in our home when in fact she wasn’t safe at all.  It was the last night any of us ever lived in our home again. The next day July 14, 2004 our lives as we once knew it was gone forever.

Your Honor, when I walked into my home on July 14, 2004 I discovered my daughter’s lifeless body. I can’t even find words to describe what I felt. I saw my sweet baby girl lying half on and off the couch with blood
everywhere. It was like a surreal picture. A horrific scene that now is imprinted in my memory forever. I knew immediately Liz was dead. I couldn’t go to her. I just went hysterical and ran out of my house to Scott’s house fifty yards away. All I could do was scream, someone murdered Liz! Someone murdered Liz!  Scott came running, at one point he stopped me and shook me to try to stop my hysteria. I pulled away and just kept screaming someone murdered Lizzie! I told him she was on the couch in the family room. Scott went into the house and he came back up and said she isn’t there, I had to go back into the house and show him. He didn’t see her because she was half on and off the couch. Her dog Charlie was laying on her stomach all full of blood and didn’t move or make a sound. Scott tried to find Liz’s pulse and told me to call 911. He lifted her body and tried another way to find a pulse because her left side of her neck was slashed nine times.

The 911 operator told us to get out to the house and I remember in the middle of speaking to her I said “Oh my God I have to call my ex-husband.”  In the midst of all the horror and hysteria I thought of Steve, Lizzie’s father. How was I going to tell him?  I don’t believe that day or vision of finding her will ever leave my mind or my heart. It rewinds and plays over and over as though it was yesterday. I re-live it at night in my dreams and when I am wide awake.

Since that day we have trouble feeling safe anywhere. I worry about my daughters Courtney and Stephanie. Blinds that use to be left open at night are now being closed. Our trust in people is questionable. We look at the world in an extremely different way.

We all live in different places now. At that time my middle daughter Stephanie was attending DePaul University and made her permanent home in Chicago. We would talk to each other once or twice a day. That way if I didn’t hear from her I would know something was wrong. When we would go places we would let each other know when we were leaving and when we would return. One day I went shopping and the time got away from me. I was gone two hours longer than I said I would be. I didn’t have my phone turned on, everyone was frantic with worry that something had happened to me. It is a terrible way to live, constantly worrying that something might happen to your loved ones.

Just seven weeks after Liz’s murder, Stephanie’s fiancee was coming from ISU because he knew Steph needed him. On his trip to offer comfort to Stephanie he was killed when a semi ran him off the highway. I watched my daughter’s pain grow as she suffered for both her sister and her fiance. Yet I knew all I could do was be there for her, let her know I loved her. As a mom I just wanted to take away her pain, but I knew I couldn’t take it away anymore than I could breathe life back into Liz again.

Liz’s death physically and emotionally affected Courtney severely also. Courtney being the oldest of the girls was protective of her little sister Liz and for a long time blamed herself for moving out on July 13th.  She felt if she had been there Liz would be alive today.  One day at a time, Liz’s sisters are trying to get on with their lives and I am so proud of them.

I also worry about Steve, Liz’s dad, all the time. We have had differences of opinions but even though we are not together, Liz was still our baby. We have never been able to sit down and talk about any of this horror.
My mom and dad are 88 and 89. I have seen my parents age so much in the last 3 plus years. When I look into dad’s eyes I see his pain. I know it is not just for losing Liz but it is slowly killing him to see his daughter and other granddaughters in so much pain. I know he worries all the time about the girls and me. My mom is one of the strongest women in the world. She insisted she had to be here today so she would know exactly what I had gone through so she could understand and try to help me. We are very fortunate for having our family and friends.

Liz’s murder has had an affect on our entire family. I have six wonderful sisters along with my brother-in-laws, twenty-seven nieces and nephews who all live within the Kenosha area. My sister Sue had such anger after Liz’s murder she ended up having two brain aneurisms within a year of her murder. Sue almost died. In my heart I believe the stress and anger had a lot to do with her illness. My brother-in-law Ken’s cancer was in remission. He and my sister Karen came to the court dates often. I believe Ken’s love and
support for the girls and I, created stress and anxiety and in turn has caused his cancer to come back. We are a very close knit family but now our family get togethers just aren’t the same. The family really never discuss Liz because they are afraid to say anything. They don’t want to upset the girls or myself. I don’t go to the get togethers because I don’t want to spoil our good times together. We have been blessed with a new addition to our family Courtney’s daughter born 2006  “our little Madison”.  Madison is a daily reminder that life does go on and I am so grateful to God for his gift to all of us. Yet it is bitter sweet to know Madison will not grow up with her Aunt Lizzie singing sweet lullabies to her or their making fond memories with each other.

I don’t go out as often because even though it has been over three years there isn’t a time that I am out someone doesn’t recognize me, or my name, and want to say something about Liz’s murder. I know it is only because they care and want to help. The problem is it takes me right back to all the pain. I have always been a strong person, I could get through everything.  Now I may have to file for disability in the future in order to support myself. I was a loyal and valued employee and enjoyed being a florist, but haven’t been able work since Liz’s murder. I have since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and depression by my
psychologist.  I am on medications in order to function on a daily basis. There are so many unanswered questions in my mind about what happened and it adds to my anxiety and depression.  It is only through counseling that I have been able to attend the court hearings through out the past three years.  Each court date and numerous court continuances  physically and emotionally drained me.  I relive July 14th, 2004 each time I attend court and it takes days to recooperate, but I felt I had to come to court each time for my Lizzie.

Before Liz’s death  I was a person who loved people and always tried to help others in need. I was always smiling and trying to give people a lift during a difficult time, now all I am trying to do is walk step by step through life, doing what I need to do just to exist. The bond between my fiancé Scott and I was inseparable for the first two years after discovering Liz’s body on that day.  We supported each other in what we went through together finding Liz’s body, however as time passes by, living daily in our grief and pain has begun to pull us apart. The future we hoped for may not be.  My daughters and I will never be the Four Musketeers again without Liz, but I pray that my relationship with Stephanie and Courtney will come back.  It seems like I am on the outside looking in and not a part of it at all. I pray in time that will change. I have not had any sense of peace or serenity since the day that silenced the angelic voice of our Lizzie forever.

Thank you to all our family, friends, and the community through this nightmare. Thank you Judge Booras for listening.

BY KENDRICK MARSHALL kmarshall@scn1.com

Minutes before Adam Christenson was sentenced for the murder of Grant High School student Elizabeth Willding, prosecutor Michael Mermel urged the judge to be swift and stern.

“We have to protect the people from Adam Christenson so they won’t feel the same pain as the Willding family does right now,” Mermel told Judge James Booras Monday. “You are the only person on the face of the earth who can do that.”

Liz Willding (with flowers) is pictured with her family in this March 2004 photo.

Christenson, 25, sat emotionless next to his attorneys after he was ordered to 48 years in prison.

He will serve the term without any chance of an early release.

“Nothing will mend the wounds these two families feel,” Booras said. “It is a tragedy for the Willding family and the family of the defendant. He took a talented person away from the world, and he must be punished.”

The Ingleside man did not plead guilty, but he admitted in court Feb. 5 that the evidence against him was strong enough to convince a judge or jury.

With that plea, he avoided a trial.

Defense attorney Keith Grant had argued that Christenson was in a poor mental state when he killed Willding on July 14, 2004, and that his confession should be suppressed .

He was found unfit to stand trial and was sent to a state mental health facility before being found fit by a doctor last April.

On July 13, 2004, Christenson and co-defendants Melissa Ward and Daniel Rowe entered the Willding home in Ingleside. They stole a video camera and an Xbox game system, intending to sell them to buy drugs .

The next day, Christenson returned to the house to retrieve a cord needed to operate the camera. However, Willding, 16, was at home and was stabbed more than 40 times during an apparent struggle.

Her mother, Gigi Willding, has said she has not been able to recover physically or emotionally.

She and her fiancé, Scott Pregent, have been in counseling twice a week since the murder.

“It’s been terrible. Liz was the glue that held the family together,” she said. “I think about her every day and what I could have done differently to save her.”

Christenson’s father, Daniel, testified that he could not have imagined the boy who excelled in sports and academics, could one day be a killer.

“Adam was everything you could want in a son,” he said amid tears. “I’ve always thought we did a good job with him, but apparently we did not.”

Killer’s, teenager’s families speak of the toll of 2004 fatal stabbing

By Tony Gordon | Daily Herald Staff

Another painful chapter in the murder of Elizabeth Willding came to a close Monday, but her friends and family say they’ll always be haunted by her death.

The family of her killer — 25-year-old Adam Christenson — feels the same way.

Willding was brutally murdered in 2004 when she interrupted Christenson’s second burglary of her family’s Ingleside home in as many days.

“I cannot believe that the last time I saw my daughter alive I was holding her and assuring her she was safe in her own home,” said her mother, Gigi Willding, at Christenson’s sentencing hearing Monday. “I live with the fact that I assured my daughter she was safe that day.”

Christenson was sentenced to 48 years in prison Monday for stabbing Elizabeth more than 40 times in a rage fueled by the mental illness he had suffered from for years. Christenson has a significant history of mental illness, including confinement in a state hospital for a year after being found unfit to stand trial in 2005.

The crime has sent shock waves through his family as well.

“You think you could have done more (to help Adam), but we tried,” David Christenson testified at his son’s sentencing hearing. “We had hoped we had done everything we could have, but obviously we did not.”

A stream of family and friends took the witness stand to speak of Elizabeth Willding and the promise that was destroyed when she was murdered July 14, 2004.

She was a National Honor Society member, star soccer and volleyball player, and emotionally wise beyond the 16 years she lived. Witnesses said Elizabeth touched all she came in contact with.

She excelled at the fine arts and was a singer and actor at both Grant High School and the PM&L Theater in Antioch.

Stephanie Willding said Elizabeth was “the glue that held our family together” and that she lives her life in honor of her late sister.

“Every day I try to live the best life I can because Liz cannot,” Stephanie said. “She was going to do great things.”

A young Adam Christenson was on that same path early in his life, his family members told Circuit Judge James Booras.

Adam Christenson excelled in school and on the athletic fields, much the same as his victim, and also shared an ability to make friends quickly.

“He was the curly-haired, freckle-faced, all-American boy,” his sister Jennifer Stoeck said. “He excelled at everything he did and seemed to be making new friends every day.”

But the clouds darkened as Adam Christenson entered his sophomore year of high school, and he slipped further into the grip of mental illness that several attempts at treatment could not cure.

In the months before the murder, Adam Christenson had become listless, was abusing drugs and took to burglarizing the Willding house for drug money, authorities said.

Christenson pleaded guilty but mentally ill last month in exchange for a sentence of between 20 and 60 years.

Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Mermel asked for the full amount so the sentence “would speak out and says that society condemns” what Christenson did.

Assistant Public Defender Keith Grant asked for something in the 40-year range “to balance the loss the victim’s family feels with the loss that Adam’s family feels.”

Booras said he considered the losses on both sides of the murder but also saw there was a difference.

“The Christenson family will be able to visit their son and speak with him as the years go by,” Booras said. “Any conversation the Willding family has with Elizabeth will be one-sided.”

When he finished his testimony, David Christenson was walking back to his chair in the gallery when Dr. Steven Willding, Elizabeth’s father, reached out to him.

The two men embraced, whispered something to each other, and then David Christenson slowly walked away.

I’m sure that Gigi will have more information for you later.

BY KENDRICK MARSHALL kmarshall@scn1.com

It has been nearly four years since Gigi Willding found her daughter’s bloodied and motionless body on the floor of her home in Ingleside.

And the memories of that day are burned into her mind. As much as Willding wants to erase the moment she knew 16-year-old Elizabeth Willding would never speak to her again, it is now impossible.

» Click to enlarge image

The Willding family.

(Special to the News-Sun)

“I wonder if I had come home a little earlier that maybe I could have saved her,” Willding told The News-Sun on Tuesday.

The past three years, six months and 18 days have been tough, said Willding, who keeps a running tab of the time since Elizabeth was stabbed to death on July 14, 2004.

On Monday, the task grew tougher. There would be no trial and no testimony against Adam Christenson.

During a hearing in Lake County Circuit Court, Christenson, 25, entered an Alford plea — not admitting guilt but accepting the strength of the case against him.

Judge James Booras set sentencing for March 17.

“I feel robbed that I will not be able to say all the things I want to,” said Willding, who was expecting a jury to decide Christenson’s fate during a trial. “I wanted closure, but I will not have any now.”

Willding said she had so many questions to ask regarding the sequence of events that led to the death of her daughter.

“There are so many questions that will go unanswered now,” she said. “I needed that trial for closure. I don’t know how to feel.”

Although she plans to write a victim impact statement prior to Christenson’s sentencing to explain the effect Elizabeth’s death has had on the family, Willding still can’t come to grips with sitting in court knowing that her daughter’s killer will see many more days.

“I’ve been to that court 40 to 50 times, and it is always different. Sometimes I can’t stand to look at (Christenson) him,” she said. “Sometimes I look at his arms and think about what he did to my daughter.”

Christenson will soon be sent to prison, maybe for the rest of his life, but it will not mend those scars.

“Elizabeth will not be able to come back, but (Christenson’s) family will be able to visit him in prison.”

Judge Booras has a chance to end that March 17th.  Finally someone will have the ability to tell him that enough is enough.   Someone needs to tell him finally and someone needs to deliver justice for Liz and her family.  It appears that will finally come in a little over a month. 

Mr. Christenson’s attorneys have done their job as they should have.  However, I would be remiss if I didn’t state the way this has gone on has been a true horror for Liz’ family.  Imagine it, 3 1/2 years of continued suffering while he skates from hearing to hearing, dodging justice at every turn, certainly without his freedom but certainly not paying for his horrific crime.  On top of that, when one thinks he could be sentenced to as little as 20 years and be paroled far sooner than that is a horror I cannot imagine.  This is not a man who’s guilt has even been of any question, the physical evidence is overwhelming even without his confession.  

To think that it has taken 3 1/2 years to adjudicate something so obvious is truly troubling for society but a nightmare to Liz’ family. I think it is time that we take a close look at what Adam Christenson stole on July 14, 2004.  

According to prosecutors he came to the Willding house to retrieve a digital camera cable you can find for $5 at Best Buy or any electronics store.  Why he couldn’t pawn a camera without it one will never know.   Also according to prosecutors he had broken into the house and stole various items before, he went back for this cable so he could pawn it for drugs.  

Only Mr. Christenson knew what he was there to steal that day, certainly Lizzie didn’t.  All Lizzie knew was her home had been violated the day before and now someone was there to do it again — she wasn’t going to let that happen.

For that act of defending the serenity of her family’s home she paid with her life.  One may think that only an insane person would take someone’s life for something of so little value, but that’s not what this was about.  This was about someone finally telling Adam Christenson “no, you’re not going to do that”.  For that act he unleashed an onslaught of savagery in the form of more than 40 stab wounds because no one tells Adam Christenson “no” apparently.  Liz died when she bled to death. Judge Booras has a chance to tell Mr. Christenson “no” on March 17 and I hope that he will deliver the maximum sentence he can impose.  The maximum is already far too little for what he has stolen.  

He stole the life of a young, energetic, beautiful and talented girl.  A young girl who was never given a chance at life because he stole that from her.    He didn’t just steal though, he has given some terrible gifts as well.  He has given a mother a lifetime of memories about how she found her little girl.  He has given an entire family the anguish of being without their darling Liz.   He has given sorrow and tears to the many friends that Liz had, sorrow for a life she didn’t have the opportunity to live.  He has caused them to doubt themselves, to think if they could have done something different: picked a different place to live, done more after the first break-in, better secured the home or the litany of other things people think of in retrospect of such a terrible event.  No matter how many times we may tell her family there was really nothing they could have done the thoughts still remain the same — the doubt, the sorrow, the grief will always be there for the rest of their lives. 

Judge Booras has an opportunity to give something to Adam Christenson and that’s the time to think about what he’s done the rest of his life behind bars.  This isn’t retribution, it isn’t revenge; this is justice for what he has done to so many people.  Mr. Christenson has shown himself fully unfit to conduct himself in society to conduct a crime so heinous over something so trivial.  Fortunately Judge Booras will have ample protection from Mr. Christenson in the confines of the courtroom, the last person who tried to stop him paid with her life.

The man accused of the brutal 2004 murder of a 16-year-old Ingleside girl pleaded guilty Monday, just as his trial was about to begin.

Adam Christenson, 25, will face a sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison when he returns to court March 17 before Circuit Judge James Booras.

Christenson was accused of stabbing Elizabeth Willding more than 40 times July 14, 2004, when she interrupted his second burglary of her home in as many days.

Christenson pleaded guilty but mentally ill to killing the girl under a clause in the law that does not require a defendant to give up his claim of innocence.

Instead, Christenson was required only to admit that if a reasonable judge or jury were to hear the evidence against him, it was likely he would be convicted.

Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Mermel said the framework around the plea was a technicality with no meaningful impact.

“He is just as guilty,” Mermel said. “(The plea) is just as final.”

Christenson has a significant history of mental illness, including confinement in a state hospital for a year after being found unfit to stand trial in 2005.

Doctors said Christenson was restored to fitness last year and returned to Lake County, although he still receives medication for psychological disorders.

Mermel told Booras witnesses would be prepared to testify that Christenson, after originally denying any involvement in the crime, admitted the girl struck him over the head with an object when she found him inside her house.

Christenson then grabbed a knife and began stabbing the girl, Mermel said, and left the house without the digital camera cord he had planned to steal.

Christenson needed the cord because he had stolen the camera the previous day, Mermel said, and was unable to pawn the camera without the cord.

Scientists also were prepared to testify the girl’s blood was found on the shoes Christenson was wearing when he was first questioned by police, and that his DNA was found underneath her fingernails.

Before entry of the plea, Booras told Christenson about a conversation he had with the lawyers concerning the negotiations that led to the plea.

Booras said Assistant Public Defender Keith Grant was recommending a sentence of about 30 years, while Mermel recommended 50 to 60 years.

Booras said after considering all the facts, he was leaning toward a sentence of 40 to 50 years, but the actual term could be higher or lower depending on the evidence brought out at the sentencing hearing.

Gigi Willding, the victim’s mother, and other family members were present in the courtroom but declined to comment after the hearing.

Christenson’s father also attended and left without comment.