A Lake County jury needed just one hour to convict Johnathan N. Skroko of first-degree murder on Friday, finding the 28-year-old South Elgin man guilty in the September 2022 shooting death of Robbie Dickerson, a 42-year-old Racine, Wisconsin man who was lured to an Antioch apartment, robbed, and later found fatally shot in a bathtub. Skroko now faces a minimum sentence of 45 years to life in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The five-day trial, which began August 24, concluded in Lake County Circuit Court after prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses, including law enforcement officers and forensic experts, according to Lake and McHenry County Scanner. As reported by the Daily Herald, Assistant State's Attorneys Lauren Kalcheim Rothenberg and Daniel Lenzini prosecuted the case, presenting a comprehensive forensic case built to counter Skroko's claim of self-defense.
Dickerson had gone to an apartment in the 1000 block of Main Street in Antioch on September 5, 2022, believing he was completing a prescription drug transaction. Instead, prosecutors said, the trip was a setup: Skroko planned to hold Dickerson at gunpoint and steal his drugs, and co-defendant Hailey D. Miller convinced Dickerson to enter her residence to set the trap in motion.
A Botched Robbery Turns Deadly
Once inside, Skroko emerged carrying a shotgun and demanded Dickerson hand over his drugs, according to the seed reporting. Dickerson, who had come to the apartment accompanied by his girlfriend, tried to hide behind Miller and at one point grabbed her. Skroko then shot Dickerson in the chest, fired a second shot into him, and told Miller to finish off the victim — but Miller refused to shoot Dickerson, per the same account.
Skroko had also threatened Dickerson's girlfriend with a pistol during the encounter, and she called 911 after hearing two gunshots. The Antioch Police Department later found Dickerson deceased in a bathtub inside Miller's residence, his body covered with bleach. An autopsy found that Dickerson died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Fleeing to Wisconsin, Then Gurnee
After the shooting, Skroko hid in another room before he and Miller fled, according to the outlet's account. The pair placed the murder weapons in Miller's car and drove first to Miller's father's home in Wisconsin before later driving to Skroko's residence in South Elgin. At the time of his arrest, Skroko was an Elgin/South Elgin parolee living in the 600 block of Fieldcrest Drive, according to Elgin Patch.
Miller also removed the Ring doorbell camera from her residence in an apparent effort to eliminate evidence. Investigators eventually located Skroko and Miller two days after the shooting at a hotel near Route 41 and Grand Avenue in Gurnee, where the pair were taken into custody without incident. Officers recovered clothing stained with both blood and bleach from the hotel room, along with a gun, ammunition, and additional blood-stained clothing, the Daily Herald reported in its original 2022 coverage of the arrests.
Forensic Case Built on Five Specialties
Investigators ultimately recovered five guns connected to the case; some of the firearms were dumped in Busse Woods off Higgins Road near Schaumburg. The shotgun linked to the killing had a red substance consistent with blood, and Skroko's DNA was found on the murder weapon.
At trial, expert witnesses spanned five forensic specialties — ballistics, fingerprinting, DNA analysis, forensic pathology, and forensic cellphone analysis — the broad evidentiary net prosecutors used to dismantle Skroko's account. Skroko testified that he acted in self-defense, claiming Dickerson lunged at him, but prosecutors argued his testimony was inconsistent with the physical evidence. The jury ultimately found Skroko guilty of personally discharging the firearm, a finding that triggers Illinois's mandatory sentencing enhancement.
Why Skroko Faces at Least 45 Years
Under Illinois law, personally discharging a firearm that causes death during a first-degree murder carries a mandatory 25-year-to-life sentence enhancement layered on top of the baseline 20-to-60-year murder term, per DRD Law LLC. That statutory framework is what produces Skroko's minimum sentence of 45 years to natural life. First-degree murder convictions in Illinois also fall under truth-in-sentencing provisions, meaning Skroko would have to serve 100 percent of whatever prison term the court imposes, with no eligibility for early release.
Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart expressed condolences to those impacted by the murder following the verdict, according to the Scanner's report.
Co-Defendant's Plea Deal and Upcoming Sentencing
Miller, a 30-year-old Antioch resident, pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery with a firearm, a Class X felony, on December 10, 2024, after agreeing to provide honest testimony during Skroko's trial. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed her murder charges. Her plea agreement was a blind plea deal, leaving her sentence entirely to judicial discretion rather than a negotiated term.
Miller's sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on September 15, where she faces a statutory range of six to 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. At their initial court hearing back in September 2022, a Lake County judge had set Skroko's bail at $10 million, with $1 million cash required, and Miller's bail at $3 million, with $300,000 cash required; both defendants were represented at the time by public defender Brian E. Wilson and were held in custody pending trial.
The homicide investigation was conducted jointly by the Antioch Police Department and the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, with Task Force Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli serving as the case's official spokesman. That inter-agency partnership managed evidence collection across both Illinois and Wisconsin as the case moved from a Main Street apartment to a Gurnee hotel room and, ultimately, to a Lake County courtroom nearly four years later.
