Transcription
She's a mom who posted about the importance of love and motherhood on social media, raising two children who she claimed to care very much about. But now, everyone's left wondering what went wrong because she is now accused of a triple homicide. The big clues this alleged killer left behind after a crime that shattered a quiet neighborhood in the middle of the night. We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart.
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The triple homicide we're talking about happened in a quiet community south of Chicago. It happened in the middle of the night on Monday as neighbors woke up reportedly to the sounds of gunfire and they called police. When officers responded to the home of the Ford family, the home of Patrick and Stacy, they made a horrifying discovery. Now, one thing we have noticed in the wake of this tragedy is just how many people loved this couple, Patrick and Stacy, and their adult son, Jacob. When you look at Patrick and Stacy's social media, you can see that they had a lot of love for other people as well, especially their grandchildren. The father of those kids was Jake Lambert. One person online said that Patrick was Jake's stepdad and Stacy was his mom.
Now, as people are trying to make sense of what happened on this home in a quiet part of Cree Township, Illinois on Norway Trail early Monday morning, many people are trying to comprehend how the mom of the kids who you see in Jake's arms could allegedly be capable of such horror. Now, this is a picture from 2023 from a second birthday, it seems, for one of Jake's kids. And you can see that this looks like a happy family. Everyone colorcoordinated as they celebrate their toddler. The woman in the picture is Jenna Strubal. She's smiling in this picture, but now she's accused of being a coldblooded killer.
Now, this case does not appear to be a who done it according to police, and I'll explain why in just a moment. But the why, that is where the mystery is at this point. Now, before we get into more of the dynamics surrounding the relationship, potentially at the center of this case, I want to break down the timeline of this crime from law enforcement. So, this story takes place in Creek Township, Illinois, which is in Will County, Illinois. It's roughly 45 minutes south of Chicago, right on the Indiana border. This suburb has roughly 25,000 people in it. The Fords lived on what looked like a quiet street, a place where neighbors look after each other. This is an aerial map of the house where this crime allegedly took place, according to police.
Now, police say it was here around 2:00 in the morning on Monday, March 23rd, that they responded for what they're calling a welfare check. Neighbors told local outlets that they heard what sounded like gunfire in the middle of the night and they called 911. The Will County Sheriff says when they got to the house, they found Jake shot dead in a car outside. There's a picture on social media of a car being towed from the scene that had a tarp over the passenger side window. Police say they found Patrick and Stacy, Jacob's parents, shot dead. They were on the first floor of the house, not far from the front door. Police say they found the family dog just wandering the property.
Now, it's unclear what put law enforcement on the trail of the alleged killer, Jenna Strobble, but they say they have a big clue now in their possession that could be critical if this case ever goes to trial, and that is the alleged murder weapon, a firearm. Strobble also allegedly made the investigation easy for detectives in another way, which we'll talk about in just a moment. Now, police say after Strobble shot and killed the father of her children and her children's grandparents, she ran. But she didn't go far. Just about 15 minutes away over the state line to St. John, Indiana. That is where she lives and that is where she's from.
Now, from the very beginning, police said that this did appear to be a targeted incident, a case of alleged domestic violence. And it's unclear what put them on Jenna's trail so quickly right after the murders. But it was within hours they announced a person of interest was in custody. And then about a day or so later, they announced that Jenna was the person who was going to face charges for what allegedly happened to Stacy and Patrick Ford and Jacob Lambert. Now, police arrested Jenna at her home and the Will County Sheriff says that she made incriminating statements. We don't know specifically what she said, but it seems like law enforcement is very confident they have the person who's responsible for these murders. It is unclear what a defense though may look like for her based off what she allegedly did. The sheriff says that Strobble will face nine counts of first-degree murder in this case. And we'll talk a little bit more in a moment about how you can have so many counts of murder when there are three victims. Here are the charges listed in the Will County court records.
Now, we don't know the relationship dynamic specifically between Jacob and Jenna. Police did describe them as having an on-again, off-again relationship, and of course, they shared children. Now, it did appear on social media that you go back to 2023 and they had what appeared to be an on relationship or at least amicable when it came to raising their children. That's based off those birthday photos that we showed you at the top of this story. Now, it does appear that the couple also lived together at some point because of pictures they have of them bringing a newborn home. Now, it does not appear that Jenna has a criminal record or any sort of violent history. But again, now she's facing nine counts of first-degree murder for what she allegedly did. We did a background search on her in Indiana court records, and we only found a traffic citation from 2018. And then when you search Illinois court records, you see those nine counts of first-degree murder. Right now, Jenna is being held in the Lake County jail in Indiana. And even though she only lived a short drive away from where these murders took place since it is across state lines, she will have to be extradited to Illinois where she will face charges that could put her away for the rest of her life.
Now, she is the alleged face of evil in this story. A smiling mom who allegedly snapped and became a killer. But right now, the people who knew Stacy, Jacob, and Patrick, they are remembering people who they say brought a lot of good into this world. One friend writes that Jake held a special place in their heart because he understood how important family was. And they say he was an exceptional father who wanted his children to have strong family values and to know that they were loved beyond measure. Patrick, he was an avid golfer, actually worked at the local course and he loved his family. He loved his grandkids and he will be missed beyond description. Then Stacy was a director of finance for a graphic manufacturing company in Illinois. That company posted on Facebook that she was the backbone of their company for more than 20 years now. It's unclear when Jenna Strobble will face a judge in Illinois and what the extradition process will look like for her.
If you or anyone you know may be a victim of domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1 800799 SAFE, that's 7233, or text start to 888788 and you can remain anonymous. This line is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Joining us now to talk more about this case is Melba Pearson, civil rights and criminal law attorney, former prosecutor and host of the resident legal diva YouTube channel. Always great to have you here on Law and Crime. You know, there's it's really tough to make sense of this, you know, of any cases of violence, but but in this case, this woman facing, you know, nine counts of firstdegree murder for the three victims here. Um, I do want to just bring up CBS News Chicago has uh this line that is giving some context to the relationship uh allegedly saying that deputies were also called to the home in January 2025 for domestic battery and a mental health intervention. Sheriff's officials said that Strobble was involuntarily committed during that incident last year. Um, so we can talk a bit about the mental health part of this, but when you see the nine counts, and I know every state is different, but nine counts of first-degree murder, but we're dealing with three victims that, you know, the lives that she allegedly took. What do you make of of those types of charges and and why there would be so many for three victims?
>> Yeah. So, again, thank you for having me. And this is definitely a tragic case that reminds us that men can be victims of domestic violence, too. Uh a lot of times we focus on women being the survivors and while yes there are a lot of women that are survivors, men can also be impacted as we see in this horrible case. Now in terms of the three victims, nine counts. Yes, it seems like the math doesn't math right. But that is something that is a quirk in some states in their law just in terms of you know not only the three victims but also looking at intent. Sometimes there's extra charges layered in just in case something goes wrong later on down the line in the process and maybe as part of the negotiations if there's eventually a plea some of those counts may get dropped. Sometimes those counts are streamlined for the purposes of trial. So usually it's a strategic move on behalf of the prosecutor's office why we see so many counts.
>> And there's going to be, you know, she'll she'll eventually be back in Illinois. you know, in, you know, many states deal with this when you when you're talking about communities that are along a state line, but she, you know, allegedly flees after this happens and then she's arrested in St. John, Indiana, which is in the Chicagoland area, but just across the state line. So, even though she's so close geographically, like, we still have to go through the extradition process the same way as if she was caught 200 miles away in another part of Indiana.
>> Absolutely. I'm based in South Florida. Many times we have defendants that will flee uh or people charged that will flee to Georgia and we still it's right across state lines but we still have to extradite them back because again you're taking someone out of one state's custody and trying to bring them into your own custody. And so there's a legal process that has to be followed in terms of you know we in the legal system refer to as the body but it's actually a person right a living person but that's weird quirk again but you have to file those motions in order to make sure the person is properly transported and there's a record of how they got from point A to point B and there's no allegations of like they were kidnapped or or anything like that you know it's just to be very uh clear in terms of how the defendant person charged got from point A to point B.
>> And I know at at the time we're recording this to our understanding she's still in Lake County, Indiana, and then will be brought to Will County, Illinois, where where these uh murders took place that she is allegedly responsible for. Um, when you see that there was, you know, and in cases of domestic violence, sadly, I feel like there's a lot of times where there's there's a history and it's not the first time that something happened. And in this case, if this reporting is correct, about January 2025 for a domestic battery and mental health intervention, um, typically what does that mean for someone to be involuntarily committed if that's what happened to her?
>> So, when you are involuntarily committed, and there's a couple different ways that it can happen. It could be a family member is basically calling a helpline saying, "Hey, my loved one is having a mental health episode." It could also be as a result of someone calling law enforcement, they coming and responding to the scene and seeing that someone's in an active mental health situation. And so at that point, the person is taken and transported to a mental health facility where they can get care observation. Usually involuntary hospitalization would be about 24 48 hours somewhere in that range. This is not weeks or months or anything along those lines. is just to make sure the person is stabilized, that they're no longer a danger to themsel or people around them. And it's to also could be the purposes of diagnosing the person because maybe they're having a mental health break and they've never previously been diagnosed as bipolar or schizophrenic. Now it's like, oh wait, now we can put a name to what's actually going on and then it is up to the person to follow up on treatment moving forward.
>> And and we don't know if she was diagnosed with anything. We we don't know much about the relationship. I mean, you look at I I know police characterized it as on again, off again. It appears they have two kids. Um, just from social media, it appears like in 2023, they had a 2-year-old birthday party that looked, you know, very nice, very typical. But, you know, over the last couple of years, it's it's hard to know what the relationship was. You know, when I looked her up, the only thing that comes up is a 2018 like traffic citation in Indiana records and in Illinois, nothing came up other than, you know, what she's dealing with now. Even in those cases like in 2025 typically what type of record is there if there's a situation I mean would that be something where you know something happens and maybe the family said you know we don't want to press charges um but for there to be no if this is what happened in 2025 some domestic battery incident and then charges aren't filed like is there anything that goes into a record to kind of raise a red flag that there could be an issue here with this relationship?
>> Sadly no. Um, many times there's a situation where because we would normally see an arrest, right? Like depending when we, you know, and there are a few different ways that that can happen, but when you usually pull somebody's criminal history and there's been an arrest, even if charges aren't are dropped later on down the line, there is still some record of an arrest. So, what likely may have happened here, again, not knowing the full picture and just based on the information that's available, there may have been prior domestic violence incidents, but the family or the victim never reported, never told anyone in a law enforcement capacity. Now, this is all going to come to bear during trial if this case does go to trial because there are usually pathways in terms of, you know, prior bad acts or prior evidence that could come in at trial if there has been other domestic violence incidences between the two of them that may have been witnessed by a family member or a friend or maybe the victim went to work and said, "Oh my gosh, my ex is driving me crazy. She went and and and you know, slashed my tires." Or something like that, right? So there may be some other evidence of prior violence. It's just outside of the criminal justice system.
>> And when it comes to we don't know specifically I think at this point like other than you know clearly they had an on again offagain relationship. They maybe looked up that there was this call in 2025 and it seemed pretty quickly they had Jenna Strobble in custody um for for the murders of these people. Um, they say that she made some incriminating statements. We don't know what those are. Um, and then they also allegedly have the murder weapon, a gun that was used in in this triple homicide. Um, the fact that there may be some mental health issues here, like if you're a defense attorney taking over this case, and I know we have a long way to go. Um, how can that come into play if you're a defense attorney looking at, oh no, my client made these statements to police presumably after she was read her rights?
>> Right. Well, first of all, point A, were her rights read? Were was this in response to interrogation or questions being presented by law enforcement or was it what we'd call a spontaneous statement where the cops come and like yeah you know what he pissed me off and so I did XYZ right and and at that point those statements are admissible. So it's kind of difficult as a defense attorney to attack that. Now the next thing you can say is that well because of her mental health concerns she hasn't been on her medication and so she reacted in this way but it becomes a difficult pathway because we're not looking necessarily at insanity which is something very different than having mental health concerns. You can be mentally ill and have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, but if you're on your medicine, you can you know who all the parties are in the courtroom. You know who the judge is. You know, you know, you can recognize, okay, this is the judge. This is my defense attorney. That's the prosecutor. You have to be able to meaningfully participate in your defense. So, if the defense council asks, hey, do you want to take a plea? This is the pros and cons. You have to be able to follow along and have a basic understanding versus I mean if you're completely out there, you know, and just not able to talk, not, you know, you're seeing, you know, stars, whatever the case may be. And I'm not trying to make light of it, but I'm just again real world folks could be completely having a mental health breakdown. Well, that's someone who can't meaningfully participate in their defense, and they also can't appreciate the seriousness of the charges. So, we're not quite sure if that's the issue there. If it is, that's a whole different pathway. And again, is she competent to go to trial, etc. So, that's a whole different pathway that defense council would have to approach. But her just having mental health concerns, that alone may not be enough to help her at trial. It could be something used as part of the plea bargaining process. Like, listen, my my client has mental health issues. as a result of that, you know, is there a way we can do something different with the sentence, get her the help she needs, etc.
>> Because even if you know this and and we don't know what this relationship was like, it was on again, off again. um, you know, you have this domestic battery call in 2025 reportedly, but like even if it was an extremely toxic relationship, even if there's not arrest or anything, but like if that's presented in court that this was a toxic relationship, like it's still triple murder, you know, and it's still like I mean this is an awful crime if she actually committed this. um like how much does that history actually matter if we get into a courtroom here where it comes to listen we have the gun and we have the statements that in this moment on that night 2:00 in the morning or whenever it was you did this like does the history even matter
>> to me I think it does because number one it explains to the jury what this is all about juries even though in in depending on the charge of course this being first-degree murder motive is an issue premeditation is an issue, but in not all in not all charges or all cases does the prosecution have to prove a motive. A lot of times it's nice to have, but there's no legal requirement in most cases to prove a motive. Intent, yes, but why someone did it, not necessarily. But juries like to know why. And it's always easier for me when I was a prosecutor handling cases. I like to be able to explain this is why this crime happened. Sometimes you get up and say this is a senseless crime. We don't know why. Not the best, but you can still get a conviction that way. But it's much easier when you're able to be like, listen, these two were in a relationship. He decided he no longer wanted to be with her. Every time he tried to leave her, she would get abusive. She would ratchet up the pressure, etc. and the jury can very easily follow along. So, it makes the process easier from a prosecution standpoint and easier for the jury to understand the totality of the circumstances.
>> And right now, we only have um the statement that the Will County Sheriff's Office put out there. We don't know the specific narratives that'll come out in court documents um about just what happened. We know that Jake Lambert, he was found shot dead in a car and then you have his parents, the Fords, they were found dead on the first floor of the home. um when when you think about a defense uh and you're accused of multiple murders like she is in this case, like can you separate all of them of like something happened in the car and then something happened in the front of the house? Because I think for the prosecutors, it's like even if there was a self-defense argument in the car, how did the two people in the house end up being shot as well?
>> Exactly. And again, it depends on the full narrative that the prosecution will have at the time of trial because again, there could be a ring camera from across the way that may have captured some critical information. The officer's body cam, there might be something there in terms of, you know, maybe she said something off the cuff that could be usable. So, it it all depends no matter what. This is something that if I was prosecuting the case, I'm approaching it as as one continuous episode that it started in the car and it could have been the family of one of the parents came out because they heard a disturbance and then now she's thinking, "Oh no, I've got witnesses. I've got to take them out because they're going to be able to say that, you know, my ex and I had problems in the past." So, you know, I'm I'm going to look at it as one episode, not two separate incidents.
>> Yeah. And and I know I'm really getting ahead of myself. I mean, she hasn't even been sent back to to Illinois, you know, and and a trial could be a long long way away. Seeing how this goes, >> if at all. >> The fact that she she allegedly fled, you know, they end up arresting her 15 minutes away in St. John, Indiana. Um, how does that impact a defense potentially? Because if you're a prosecutor, you could say this is a person who not just allegedly did this, but these were people who are now in help because they were injured after being shot and she ran away. like how does the fleeing part of it factor into the story that the prosecution is going to tell?
>> So from a prosecution standpoint, you're going to say consciousness of guilt that she fled because she knew she did something wrong. She wasn't trying to stick around and face the consequences. She headed out. Now defense will argue something like, well, maybe she lived in in the area and she was fleeing. She was going back to her house or she was going to a friend's house. not, you know, if she was really trying to flee, she wouldn't have gone one state over. She would have come to Florida. She would have gone to New York, whatever the case may be. And you could also argue that's where you might argue mental health that, you know, she was so confused and everything else and that's why she had to flee the scene. Again, that's not saying that these are going to be winning arguments and the Constitution does not guarantee you a winning argument. It just simply requires that you have a defense. So that could be some of the aspects that the defense could travel on.
>> And and just lastly, and this is another question that's really getting ahead of myself, but you know, looking at the state line issue where this happens in Illinois, there's no death penalty in Illinois, Indiana has the death penalty. when it comes to like plea negotiations in a case like this, if prosecutors feel like they have a very strong case against this person, like what leverage do you have to potentially get someone to accept a plea deal if the death penalty is already off the table? Because I could see in Indiana where, you know, that's leverage where a defense attorney might tell their client, "Hey, we can get you life in prison without parole or something like that." like what leverage in a non-death penalty state like Illinois would a prosecutor potentially have in in trying to get someone to take a plea?
>> Listen, the thought of life in prison, most people that that does not that does not seem very appetizing, right?
>> Yeah, I know. So, and with a firearm being used, uh there would be a 25 usually there's a 25-y year minman to life in terms of that. So maybe the play would be if I was defense council, I'd be like, "Listen, let's see if we can do get the 25-y year minman because then there's the chance that you may be able to get out, period." But secondly, you may be able to get out and be a part of your children's life. Now, again, that's a whole separate discussion because my heart just breaks for the two kids who've lost their dad, lost their grandparents in one fell swoop. And now you you've lost your mom because she's she's in the system and she's not coming back. And so, who's going to raise these children? All of that. I mean, just just heartbreaking. So, but again, there could be an argument if she was a decent mom. You know, again, yes, I know you killed a father. That's not exactly a decent mom, but on a day-to-day, you know, interactions, she she makes sure the kids ate, they went to school, you know, all of that. The defense could use that as an argument to say, "Listen, she was active in her children's life. She wants the opportunity to be able to do that again. She accepts responsibility for what she did, and so may we have the 25-y year midman again with three people?" That's iffy.
>> Yeah. But you ask.
>> Yeah. And it's I mean it's just and I'm happy you brought up you know because I I think just the you know there's a lot of heartbreak in this story and you can see a lot of people especially the Fords um just the amount of people in the community you know who who you know search their name on Facebook all three you know the victims in this case and and Jake Lambert and and how beloved they were in the community and then there's just a lot of questions and these kids um you know now now going through this uh because of what allegedly happened um in the middle of the night on Monday. Melba Pearson we'll see what happens next. It's always great to have you here on Law and Crime. Great expertise in tough stories like this.
>> Thank you.
>> That will do it for On the Case presented by Law and Crime. Subscribe to us on YouTube and Spotify and we're also now streaming on Peacock. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.