PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria man, Allen Schimmelphennig, convicted in a “bodyless homicide” case from 2021, lost a bid to appeal the conviction Monday.
Schimmelphennig is currently serving an 80-year sentence for the murder of Gabriel Cook, who went missing on March 8, 2021.
Peoria County prosecutors went after Schimmelphennig for first degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death, even though Cook’s body wasn’t found until April of 2024.
The Peoria County Coroner at that time said Cook had been shot in the head.
Schimmelphennig was convicted without Cook’s body as evidence, based on GPS tracking records from a monitor Cook had been wearing, cell phone locations, as well as shell casings from a gun and blood found in a storage locker Schimmelphennig had paid for.
The Appellate Court of Illinois, 4th District ruled on Monday that Schimmelphennig failed to prove his claims; that jury selection was done improperly, that his lawyer was ineffective in representing him and that the state failed to prove its case.
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