Christine Burr
EFFINGHAM CO., Ill.—A plea has been entered by the last of the defendants in the murder of Joseph C. Delaney, whose body was found near the Embarrass River in Jasper County three years ago.
Christine Burr, 58, of Dieterich, was charged December 17 of last year with three counts of First Degree Murder and a count of Concealment of a Homicidal Death.
While in Effingham County yesterday, we learned that on Monday, Burr, represented by public defender Scott Schmidt (the same public defender Justin DeRyke had for his charges of murdering Willow Long), entered a plea agreement with prosecutors that left her guilty of the concealment of a homicidal death and an amended count of Second Degree Murder in the death of Delaney, who we’ve been told was her boyfriend at the time.
Burr agreed to prison sentences of five years on the Concealment charge and 20 years on the Murder charge, those sentences to run consecutively.
Zebadiah Houser
Kristy Mathis
Burr’s two co-defendants, Zebadiah Houser, 26, and Kristy L. Mathis, 41, both of Effingham, preceded her in pleas: On May 27, they each entered guilties to their concealment charge, with Houser receiving three and a half years in DOC, and Mathis receiving 30 months probation, 180 days jail time (with 163 credit for time served) and the obligatory fines and fees.
Authorities told us that Delaney was lured to the Colonnade Apartment Complex on East Hendelmeyer Avenue in the city of Effingham and stabbed by Burr, with Houser and Mathis present; the latter two were then talked into “handling” the disposal of Delaney’s body. They dumped him riverside in neighboring Jasper County, this occurring in July 2011. His remains were later found north of Newton March 10, 2012, and it took the better part of a year and a half to make positive identification of them.