UPDATE: OCTOBER 2020: Roger Carroll sentenced to 45 years for first-degree murder and 25 years for use of a firearm
UPDATE: APRIL 23,2018: Roger Carroll’s son, Nathan, testified at Carroll’s preliminary hearing this morning that he witnessed his father kill Bonnie Woodward on June 25, 2010, and helped Carroll burn her body. Nathan also testified that Carroll used Heather Woodward as bait to lure Bonnie away from Eunice Smith Nursing Home’s parking lot where she was last seen. Authorities gave Nathann full immunity because he was a juvenile at the time of the murder. Moreover, law enforcement officials believe Roger Carroll forced his son into helping him dispose of the body.
UPDATE: APRIL 12, 2018: Bonnie Woodward’s body has been found in a wooded area in Jersey County, Illinois. Roger Carroll was charged in Jersey County on April 12, 2018, with two counts of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death. He was also charged with kidnapping in neighboring Madison County. He will be tried in Jersey County first.
Carroll is accused of luring Woodward to his property, where he allegedly shot her multiple times with a Stoeger Cougar 9 mm Luger on or about the day she disappeared, then placed her body in a fire and burned it (St. LouisPost-Dispatch)
Bonnie Woodward, 47, a grandmother of five, worked her regular shift at Eunice C. Smith Nursing Home in Alton, Illinois, on June 25, 2010. She had worked there for 27 years.
When her shift ended at 3:00 p.m., Bonnie walked out to her red Chevy Avalanche in the nursing home parking lot. She got into her truck and rolled down the windows. Coworkers saw a man in the parking lot about 30 minutes before Bonnie exited the building. They described him as Caucasian, in his 40s, with brown hair gray at the temples. He was driving what appeared to be a silver or gray 2000 to 2005 Chevy Malibu and was smoking a cigarette.
According to one coworker, the unidentified male walked over to Bonnie in her truck and began an intense conversation.
The coworker saw Bonnie Woodward enter the man’s car with him, and they drove off together. One witness reported seeing a silver or gray Malibu entering Rock Spring Park across the nursing home.
Bonnie’s truck was left unlocked and abandoned in the nurse’s parking lot. None of Bonnie’s items, such as a purse or cell phone, were found in the truck. She has not used any of her accounts either.
Bonnie was a mother to two sons, one a special needs child whom she was always in contact with. It was unlike her to go very long without speaking to him. Bonnie also had a 17-year-old stepdaughter, Heather Woodward. Heather’s father passed away in 2000, and Bonnie adopted Heather and her sibling shortly after.
On June 17, 2010, Heather ran away from home and went to stay with teacher Christine M. Scheffel. Bonnie Woodward called the police when Heather did not return home. Police searched Scheffel’s house but were unable to locate the teenager. Scheffel denied knowing the teen’s whereabouts.
On July 3, after Bonnie vanished and on Heather’s 18th birthday, Heather turned herself in to the East Alton Public Library and identified herself. She had been staying with Roger and Monica Carroll of Jersey County, both in their 40s, and friends of Heather and Scheffel.
Scheffel was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to police about Heather’s disappearance. The Carrolls were charged with harboring a runaway.
Police discovered that Roger Carroll, 44, drove a silver Malibu, resembling the man seen with Bonnie in the parking lot.
Carroll was re-arrested for obstructing justice. According to the charge, Carroll gave false information to an Alton detective on July 5 when he claimed not to know about Bonnie’s disappearance.
A search warrant was issued on Carroll’s property, and officers aided by cadaver dogs searched the 40 to 50 acres of land but found no sign of Bonnie. Some evidence was discovered, but no details have been released.
The Illinois State Police Crime Lab determined that latent fingerprints on Bonnie’s truck belonged to Roger Carroll.