Murder trial postponed after defense files motion asking trial be moved out of Ogle County

Jan. 13—OREGON — A Stillman Valley man accused of killing his ex-wife in 2016 and then setting her home on fire has filed a motion seeking to move his jury trial out of Ogle County.

Duane Meyer, 42, of Stillman Valley, through his attorney, Christopher DeRango of Rockford, filed the motion to move the trial out of Ogle County on Friday, Jan. 10, just three weeks before Meyer’s jury trial that was scheduled to start Feb. 3 and was expected to take the entire month.

Meyer is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated arson and one count of concealment of a homicidal death in connection with an Oct. 19, 2016, Byron house fire in which Meyer’s ex-wife, Margaret “Maggie” (Rosko) Meyer, 31, was found dead.

The couple’s 3-year-old son, Amos Meyer, who also was home at the time of the fire, was later pronounced dead at a Rockford hospital.

Meyer has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

DeRango told Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe on Friday, Jan. 10, that he did not receive the results from the change of venue survey he commissioned until Jan. 8. He said he forwarded the survey to the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office within hours of receiving it.

At a December hearing, DeRango said the company conducting the survey had to “adjust their methods” because of Ogle County’s smaller population size.

On Friday afternoon, in the scheduled pretrial hearing, DeRango presented the results of the survey to Roe after filing a change of venue motion with the circuit clerk’s office earlier in the day.

A change of venue motion typically asks the judge to move the trial to a different location. Those motions usually cite reasons that the filing party believes would prevent a fair trial in the county in which the case was filed. Pretrial publicity often is listed as a reason for a change of venue motion. A change of venue survey is one of the tools that can be used by attorneys before filing a motion for a change of venue.

In his “change of place of trial,” DeRango argues that because of “heavy” media coverage of Meyer’s numerous pretrial hearings since 2016, Meyer “cannot obtain a fair trial in Ogle County, Illinois.”

DeRango argues the “opinion survey” that was commissioned by Meyer questioned Ogle County residents from December 2024 through January 2025. In that survey, DeRango says 34% of respondents recalled the fire and 59% had preformed an opinion regarding the defendant’s guilt.

He did not say how many people responded to the survey.

DeRango said respondents were shown two news articles from the “period near in time to the date of the fire” and then asked about their opinions. “After a review of those articles, the percentage skyrocketed to 73 percent of respondents having an opinion about the defendant’s guilt,” the motion states. “The dramatic change in the number of respondents who now had an opinion about the defendant’s guilt is critical, given the extent of pretrial publicity in this matter thus far.”

The motion also argues that media coverage has been “pervasive and highly prejudicial” and that Google searches for Duane Meyer Byron directs users to groups that are “actively seeking to publicize this matter and encourage followers to believe Meyer is guilty.”

“The Facebook page ‘Justice for Maggie and Amos’ regularly posts content about this matter to 591 followers, including a desire for Meyer to be ‘held accountable to [sic] his heinous crimes,'” the motion states.

“This coverage of Meyer is starkly in contrast to the coverage of his ex-wife and son,” the motion says. “A Foundation established in their memory makes press releases and hosts annual events to raise money, $43,000 before its last known event, to benefit local libraries, scholarships, and community classroom grants. This is not just about the news coverage. The court must also consider the perhaps hundreds or thousands of people who attend these events, donate funds, or have become beneficiaries.

“While there is no doubt this is laudable and the victims’ lives are worth celebrating, the juxtaposition against Meyer being paraded in handcuffs and called a monster creates an undeniable prejudice.”

The motion concludes that “there exists in Ogle County such prejudice against the defendant on the part of the inhabitants that he cannot receive a fair trial in Ogle County.”

DeRango also filed a motion to continue the trial, citing his change of venue motion and “new…critical” evidentiary material that had not been disclosed to the defense.

Ogle County State’s Attorney Michael Rock did not object to the continuance and asked for 3-4 weeks to reply to the change of venue motion. Roe set the hearing to argue that motion for 3 p.m. Feb 27.

Maggie Meyer was a teacher at the Chana Education Center at the time of her death. She filed for divorce in 2014, and court records show the divorce was finalized in September 2016.

Prosecutors have argued that their evidence will show Duane Meyer planned to end Maggie’s life.

In previous hearings, DeRango and prosecutors have said both numerous cellphone records and data will be part of the evidence presented.

DeRango has argued that text messages sent by Duane Meyer before the deaths were only part of a “contentious” divorce and not indicative of anything nefarious.

Roe remanded Duane Meyer back to the Ogle County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest Oct. 9, 2019.

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