A man previously convicted of murdering his first wife has been arrested for striking his wife in the face on Wednesday, over a year after he was acquitted of attacking her at a gym in Crystal Lake.
Charles C. Gozzola, 51, of Wonder Lake, was charged with two counts of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court alleges Gozzola slapped a woman who was a family or household member in the eye around 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the victim had visible red marks to her eye socket after the incident, which occurred during an argument.
The Wonder Lake Police Department arrested Gozzola and transported him to the McHenry County Jail to await an Initial Appearance Court hearing.
While he was being held in the jail overnight, Gozzola attempted to call the victim over 50 times from inside the jail, prosecutors said.
Gozzola was previously charged in January 2024 with one count of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor.
The charges were later upgraded to domestic battery enhanced, a Class 4 felony, and aggravated battery in a public place, a Class 3 felony.
The charges stemmed from a domestic incident that occurred around 12:30 p.m. on January 31, 2024, near Planet Fitness, 5320 Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake.
Witnesses advised that a man battered a woman several times before entering a vehicle and fleeing the area, according to the Wonder Lake Police Department.
The alert provided officers with a suspect description and vehicle description and officers identified the suspect as Gozzola.
McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Miller said at the time that the victim was Gozzola’s wife — the same victim as Wednesday’s incident.
The woman was struck in the head with a water bottle and pulled into a vehicle against her will, Miller said.
Prosecutors said three eyewitnesses observed the victim and Gozzola enter the parking lot after exiting the gym.
The witnesses reported that Gozzola pulled the woman by her wrist and arm towards a white pickup truck, chest bumped her and struck her on the head with a water bottle while making “threatening and/or harassing comments towards her,” prosecutors said.
Wonder Lake officers located the vehicle at the couple’s residence in the 8700 block of Pebble Creek Court in Wonder Lake around 12:50 p.m. that day.
Officers obtained probable cause that Gozzola and the victim were located inside a residence, police officials said.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Police, McCullom Lake Police Department and the Wonder Lake Fire Protection District responded to the incident.
Officers attempted to make contact with the occupants but were unsuccessful.
“Exigent circumstances” existed due to imminent concerns for the safety and well-being of the victim, police officials said at the time.
Officers forced entry to the residence and located the victim and Gozzola around 1:45 p.m.
Officers arrested Gozzola pursuant to criminal charges from the Crystal Lake Police Department and provided medical treatment for the victim.
Gozzola was initially released at the time of his arrest after McHenry County Judge Jennifer Johnson denied prosecutors’ detention petition.
Prosecutors asked for several conditions of pre-trial release but Johnson did not impose a firearm surrender for Gozzola and also did not issue a no-contact order between him and the victim.
Prosecutors argued in a motion that the court should have imposed those two conditions pursuant to state law.
On the same day Gozzola was released in early February 2024, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office responded to two 911 calls made by neighbors who were concerned about fighting coming from the couple’s home.
Deputies met with Gozzola and his wife and the victim was again uncooperative and said nothing happened, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Gozzola was not arrested because there was no prior court order in place restricting him from being around his wife.
McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer later granted prosecutors’ request to have Gozzola detained pending trial during a subsequent court hearing.
Gozzola went on trial for his remaining charges of felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor domestic battery.
Gerhardt in May 2024 found Gozzola not guilty on both charges and released him from custody.
The judge said the prosecution’s witnesses who testified to what they saw gave “contradictory” testimony that gave the judge “reasonable doubt,” the Northwest Herald reported.
Then-McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said the alleged victim in the case denied the abuse.
“Domestic battery cases where the alleged victim, as in this case, denied the abuse are incredibly difficult cases to prove. We at the SAO understand why some victims of domestic battery attempt to protect their abusers from prosecution, and will continue to prosecute those types of cases when circumstances demand,” Kenneally told Lake and McHenry County Scanner in a statement.
“That said, the verdict was somewhat surprising, especially in view of the multiple independent eye-witness testimony to the alleged abuse,” Kenneally said.
In 2002, Gozzola was convicted of second-degree murder in Cook County for fatally shooting his then-wife.
The Chicago Tribune reported in 2000 that Gozzola tried staging the murder as a suicide and then tried framing his two young children in the shooting.
Gozzola remains held in the McHenry County Jail following his latest domestic battery case after McHenry County Judge Christopher Harmon granted a petition filed by the state’s attorney’s office to hold him in custody while he awaits trial.
The judge made the decision based on the facts of the case, Gozzola’s criminal history and the repeated calls he made to the victim prior to his court hearing on Thursday afternoon.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday.