By Nick Vlahos
GALESBURG – On the witness stand Monday, Karen Doubet implicated her goddaughter in the death of former Maquon Police Chief Richard Young.
The long-anticipated trial of Marcy Oglesby began in Knox County Circuit Court almost 33 months after she was arrested, in October 2022, when Young’s decomposing body was found in a Maquon storage unit. Oglesby is accused of poisoning Young’s food and drink over time, then hiding Young’s body.
Young’s autopsy revealed possible lethal levels of a drug found in over-the-counter eye drops. Oglesby and Doubet, who resided together with Young, were charged with first-degree murder. But in her testimony, offered as part of a plea bargain, Doubet suggested she had nothing to do with Young’s death.
“I came out of the bathroom one day and she was putting drops in Rick’s coffee. … She said she was trying to poison Rick,” Doubet, 79, said about Oglesby. “She crushed up pills and put them in his food.”
Doubet’s appearance aside Judge Andrew Doyle climaxed the 10-witness opener of a bench trial set to last three days. Testifiers included law-enforcement officials, Young’s ex-wife and two men named Mark Thomas – one the current Maquon village president, the other the former Knox County coroner.
But Doubet’s presence might have been the most surprising.
Like 53-year-old Oglesby, Doubet was charged with aggravated battery and concealment of a homicidal death, as well as murder. Because of the plea deal, only the concealment charge is to remain for Doubet, who used a cane and a ramp to access the witness stand. Jail time appears unlikely.
Doubet owns the house on Third Street in Maquon where all three central figures lived. Doubet said Oglesby was like a daughter to her. Oglesby and Young were in a romantic relationship that cooled.
“I tolerated him because he was with Marcy,” Doubet said.
Oglesby cultivated an online relationship with a man from Nigeria, an artist nicknamed “Sonny,” according to Doubet and Sgt. Jeremy Moore of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
Doubet’s house is across the street from Roberts Self-Storage. Sheriff’s-office deputies were dispatched there Oct. 7, 2022, after neighbors complained about a foul odor emanating from it.
Inside Storage Unit No. 29 was the partially liquefied body of Young, wrapped in plastic and encased in two cardboard boxes, according to court testimony.
Oglesby first told officers a dead, pregnant opossum was in the boxes. As Oglesby was attempting to open them, she hemmed and hawed, Deputy Keith King indicated. Finally, Oglesby took King aside.
“She said, ‘Keith, I can’t do this anymore.’ She kind of went pale, almost a frightened look,” said King, who resides in Maquon. “She said, ‘You’re going to find out, anyway. There’s not an opossum in the box. There’s a body in there.’”
Oglesby said Young died of natural causes, according to Moore. He said Oglesby claimed she panicked because she didn’t know how to honor Young’s final wish — to be buried in a nearby former Native American settlement.
Young was 71 when he died, probably in October 2021. That summer, upon Oglesby’s request, Doubet began to purchase eye drops from dollar stores in Elmwood and Knoxville. Ostensibly, the drops were to treat Oglesby’s allergies. Doubet kept buying them after the alleged coffee-tampering incident.
“I didn’t comprehend what she was trying to do,” Doubet said.
According to Doubet, Young died inside her house. He had been progressively weaker and unsteady, Doubet said. Oglesby carried Young’s body into a bedroom, then asked Doubet to help her put it in a box. Doubet said she wore disposable gloves, to avoid fingerprints.
“I didn’t really want to be messed up in this ordeal,” she said.
As Doubet spoke, black-clad Oglesby sat beside her attorneys, public defenders David Hansen and Christopher Kanthak. She showed little expression and took notes for much of the day. Eye contact between Doubet and Oglesby appeared furtive.
Oglesby was offered a negotiated plea but rejected it, according to State’s Attorney Ashley Worby.
During cross-examination, Kanthak indicated Doubet changed her story from when police first interviewed her. Back then, Doubet said Young needed eye drops, too, and required his oral medication to be crushed, because he had trouble swallowing.
On Monday, Doubet twice said she lied in those early interviews, because she was scared.
Testimony from law-enforcement authorities revealed they found at Doubet’s house 19 empty boxes and six empty bottles for Visine and other eye-drops brands. Also found were 11 empty boxes and six empty bottles for headache-relief tablets.
“It was a messy residence. It appeared that a hoarder had lived there,” sheriff’s-office Sgt. Greg Jennings said.
Testimony Tuesday morning focused on toxicology.
Sherri Kacinko, a toxicologist with the Pennsylvania-based laboratory that tested some of Young’s remains, said concentrations of tetrahydrozoline in Young’s muscle tissue were six times the reporting limit. Tetrahydrozoline is a key eye-drops ingredient that can be fatal if taken orally, according to Kacinko.
“In order to get into the muscle in a detectable level, there would need to be a relatively significant amount in the blood,” she said.
