A man released from prison after being convicted in the murder and sexual assault of a child in McHenry County in the 1960s has been arrested for committing a new sex-related offense.
Gary Welsh, who was 23 at the time, sexually assaulted and murdered three-year-old Marlene Casteel on September 29, 1962.
Welsh was babysitting the girl that day at a residence in Harvard.
Prosecutors said Welsh began sexually assaulting her and pushed her face into a pillow after she began to cry out.
The child, who was found dead in her bed, died by asphyxiation, according to an autopsy.
Police said at the time that Welsh admitted to assaulting the girl and smothering her with a pillow.
Welsh was arrested and subsequently found unfit for trial. He spent approximately 10 years in mental health facilities.
He was eventually found fit to stand trial and in April 1973 was found convicted of murder.
Welsh was sentenced in June 1973 to 60 to 100 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
He was released in 2010 despite objections from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Illinois Attorney General’s office, which had fought Welsh’s release since 2004.
Prosecutors had sought to have Welsh ruled as a sexually violent person and have him held in custody.
Prosecutors noted in their petition that Welsh had molested his younger female cousin when he was 13 years old and living in Iowa. He also sexually assaulted his younger sister around the same time, prosecutors added.
Welsh, who has been free for 13 years now, has been living at an apartment in Genoa, according to state records.
The Genoa Police Department on Monday announced they had arrested Welsh, now 83 years old.
The department said they were made aware of a post circulating on Facebook showing Welsh in Durham Park in Genoa.
Another call was received by the department after someone reported Welsh had attempted to lure two children.
Police arrested Welsh and transported him to the DeKalb County Jail.
He has been charged with two counts of luring a minor and one count of unlawful presence of a child sex offender in a park.