A press release from the State’s Attorney’s Office:

MICHAEL BAKKER SENTENCED TO 45 YEARS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS FOR FIRST DEGREE MURDER.

Michael Bakker

Patrick D. Kenneally, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that 49-year-old Michael Bakker of McCullom Lake was sentenced to 45 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on the charge of First Degree Murder

Under truth in sentencing guidelines, Bakker will serve 100 percent of the sentence.

On September 17, 2015 Daniel Bakker, age 69, was found dead in his home on North Alton Road in McHenry, Illinois.

An autopsy revealed the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.

The defendant, Daniel Bakker’s son, was apprehended the next day in a hotel room in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

The defendant was in possession of his father’s cell phone, which he had been using to send text messages to family members claiming to be ill and asking relatives not to go to the home on North Alton.

Family members became suspicious that the text messages were fraudulent and went to investigate and discovered the body of Daniel Bakker.

This case was investigated by the City of McHenry Police Department with the assistance of the McHenry County Investigative Assistance Team (M.I.A.T.) and prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs and Kyle Bruett.