Katie Kearns murder: Jeremy Boshears gets new trial in death of Joliet bartender

JOLIET, Ill. - An Illinois man who was convicted in 2022 of killing a Joliet bartender is now getting a new trial.

In May 2022, a jury found 36-year-old Jeremy Boshears guilty of shooting 24-year-old Katie Kearns at the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse.

Boshears was also found guilty of covering up the death.

The three counts of first-degree murder alleged that Boshears shot Kearns in the head with a firearm on Nov. 13, 2017. She was reported missing the next day.

Katie Kearns and Jeremy Boshears | Will County States Attorneys Office

Officers found Kearns’s body in the back of her 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee that was parked inside a pole barn in Aroma Park Township in Kankakee County – 50 miles from Joliet.

Police said Kearns and Boshears met a few weeks prior while working at Woody's Bar in Joliet. The pair had been dating before her death. Boshears was facing up to 45 years to life in prison for Kearns' death.

However, on Wednesday, a judge granted Boshears a new trial. 

He will remain remanded.