The coroner has released the cause of death for the former owner of the house featured in the movie “Home Alone” after he was briefly reported missing while facing felony charges and then found dead in a wooded area in Lake Forest.
Lake Forest Police Chief John Burke said John Abendshien, 79, of Lake Forest, was reported missing to the Lake Forest Police Department around 3:50 p.m. Wednesday.
His wife had reported him missing, prompting officers and detectives to search a large area of open land with the assistance of drones and a canine unit from the Northbrook Police Department
Officers located Abendshien around 5:25 p.m. in the Lake Forest Open Lands Derwen Mawr Nature Preserve behind a residence in the 300 block of West Westminster Avenue.
The subject was pronounced dead at the scene and the Lake County Coroner’s Office was notified around 5:47 p.m., Lake County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Newton said.
Newton said the subject was positively identified as Abendshien and an autopsy was scheduled for Thursday morning.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said an autopsy indicated that Abendshien died from asphyxia in a manner that was consistent with being self-inflicted.
The coroner’s office said the incident was “isolated” with no threat to the community. Burke said detectives are conducting a death investigation.
Abendshien had just been released from the Lake County Jail on Friday afternoon after he was charged with seven counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, Class 2 and 3 felonies.
The Lake Forest Police Department and Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office carried out a court-authorized search warrant last Thursday at Abendshien’s residence in the 100 block of Morris Lane in Lake Forest, according to Lake Forest Deputy Police Chief Michael Lange.
The search warrant was the result of multiple cyber tips indicating that an online account associated with Abendshien had been used in the “possession, manufacture, or distribution” of child sexual abuse material, Lange said.
The warrant was conducted without incident and electronic evidence was recovered from the residence.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell said the tips involved the possession of child pornography associated with Abendshien’s Google Drive account.
Officers located numerous photos of children between the ages of 4 and 15 years old in various stages of undress, McConnell said.
There were additional photos and videos located where a subject appeared to be deceased.
McConnell said Abendshien acknowledged and admitted to investigators that the Google Drive account in question was his and that no one else had access to it.
Officers also found identifying documents, including Abendshien’s resume and his last will and testament, in the Google Drive account, McConnell said.
McConnell said Abendshien identified or acknowledged possessing three specific images of a female child under the age of 13 who was nude and exposed to the camera.
Abendshien was the former owner of the famous Home Alone house at 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka.
Abendshien was an “accomplished health care professional” and served as President of Integrated Clinical Solutions, Inc. and a partner with the Health Care CEO Advisory Network, according to a 2023 press release from Marquis Who’s Who.
Abendshien was also an author. He released a book called “Home But Alone No More” about his experience living in the Winnetka home while the Christmas movie Home Alone, released in 1990, was filmed.
“These cases are deeply concerning, and we are committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting those involved,” Lake Forest Police Chief John Burke said after his arrest.
“We will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to protect children and ensure community safety,” Burke said.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Abendshien pending trial, calling him a danger to the community, but Lake County Judge James Simonian denied the petition and released him.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Windmoeller said during the hearing that Abendshien was in possession of 100 images of nude children, ages 7-10, in addition to the images of children between the ages of 4 and 15 years old in various stages of undress.
One image showed a child on a table in a morgue. Images of dismembered women were also found, Windmoeller said.
Windmoeller said Abendshien was found to have written a fantastical story that involved a real woman and used her actual name.
The main character in the story stalks the victim to her home in Wisconsin while posing as an FBI agent and forcing himself into her home and holding her at gunpoint before sexually assaulting, torturing and killing her.
Windmoeller called the story “quite extraordinary” and something he has never seen while working in the state’s attorney’s office.
Abendshien told investigators he remembered the person the story is about. He was also a part-time resident in Wisconsin near where the female in question lives, Windmoeller said.
Windmoeller said Abendshien admitted to writing a similar story about a neighbor who was 14 years old. “This is truly horrifying stuff,” the prosecutor said.
Defense attorneys representing Abendshien said their client had “basically flawless background” in criminal history and said he did not pose a real and present danger to others, adding that Abendshien was a fiction author and the essays prosecutors referenced had not been accessed in over 10 years.
Simonian said in his reasoning for releasing Abendshien pending trial was that he was taking into account the defendant’s age, lack of criminal history and the report that the essays mentioned by prosecutors had not been accessed in over a decade.