Police had assisted with several custody exchanges before prosecutors say Jeremiah Duncan killed Heaven Wood and their 2-year-old son.
PEORIA, Ill. — Ten days before 20-year-old Heaven Wood and her 2-year-old son were killed, a Peoria County court granted Wood an emergency order of protection against the child’s father, Jeremiah J. Duncan, according to prosecutors now pursuing two first-degree murder charges against him.
The protection order and a series of police-assisted custody exchanges have emerged as central pieces of the timeline preceding the Sept. 25 deaths of Wood and KJ Duncan-Wood. Prosecutors say Duncan, 24, requested sheriff’s deputies to stand by for exchanges on three consecutive days after the order was served, but no standby was requested the morning Wood was shot and KJ died from smoke inhalation in a burning vehicle. Duncan has been ordered held in jail before trial. He has not been convicted, and his attorney has disputed at least part of the prosecution’s account of how the fatal vehicle fire began.
According to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office, the emergency order was granted Sept. 15 and served shortly afterward. Duncan then contacted the sheriff’s office for law-enforcement presence during custody exchanges with Wood on Sept. 18, 19 and 20. Such contacts meant deputies had recent familiarity with the people and vehicle involved. That familiarity became important five days later when deputies were dispatched shortly after 6 a.m. to a vehicle fire on Yorkshire in the Royal Oaks Estates area. Prosecutors said a deputy recognized the vehicle as being associated with Wood’s nearby residence and went to the home to conduct a welfare check.
There, deputies found Wood suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency medical personnel transported her to OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Two other children at the residence were found unharmed. Meanwhile, firefighters extinguished the nearby vehicle fire and discovered KJ inside. The toddler was pronounced dead at the scene. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood later said Wood died from multiple gunshot wounds and that KJ died after severe smoke inhalation from the blaze. Sheriff Chris Watkins publicly described the deaths as a domestic-violence incident.
The first days of the investigation did not produce identical charges for the two deaths. Prosecutors initially charged Duncan with first-degree murder in Wood’s killing while investigators continued examining the circumstances of the vehicle fire and KJ’s death. On Oct. 13, a Peoria County grand jury returned an additional first-degree murder indictment accusing Duncan of causing the fire that killed his son. The second charge changed the legal scope of the case by formally linking Duncan not only to the shooting alleged at Wood’s residence but also to the child’s death in the car.
Evidence disclosed publicly in November added detail to the state’s theory about what occurred inside or near Wood’s home before the fire. Prosecutors said investigators recovered a recording from Wood’s cellphone from the day of the killings. In the recording, a woman and man can be heard speaking before Wood tells Duncan to leave or she will contact police, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office. Authorities said a brief struggle is then audible, followed by three gunshots. The state has presented the recording as evidence supporting its murder allegation, but no jury has yet determined what weight it should receive or how it fits with the rest of the evidence.
Other evidence was recovered near the scene. Deputies found burned pants and a revolver containing three spent rounds, prosecutors said. Witnesses told investigators they saw a man who appeared partly on fire running away from the burning vehicle. Authorities also obtained surveillance footage that they say shows the fire burning inside the vehicle, and investigators recovered a burned gas canister from the passenger-side floor. Prosecutors have relied on those items and accounts to argue that Duncan intentionally caused the blaze. The public evidence described so far does not amount to a completed trial record, and the defense will have the opportunity to challenge the state’s interpretation.
Duncan’s attorney has already contested the allegation that the vehicle was intentionally set on fire. During the Nov. 2 detention hearing, the defense argued that Duncan worked as a mechanic and kept gasoline in the front passenger area of the vehicle, suggesting an accidental fire remained possible. The argument is especially important to the charge involving KJ because prosecutors allege Duncan deliberately started the blaze that led to the toddler’s death. The court did not resolve the ultimate cause of the fire at the detention hearing; its task was to decide whether Duncan should remain in custody while awaiting further proceedings.
The hours after the deaths also became part of the prosecution’s chronology. After investigators identified Duncan as a suspect, law enforcement searched the area for him. Deputies and Peoria police found him around noon near Molleck Drive and Oak Crest Drive. Watkins said Duncan was armed with a knife when officers took him into custody. Duncan had suffered serious burns and was transported for medical treatment rather than being booked immediately into the county jail. He remained under custody while hospitalized, eventually receiving treatment in a burn unit in Rockford.
Those injuries delayed the ordinary pace of the criminal case for weeks. Duncan’s attorney told a judge in early October that his client was sedated and expected to undergo surgery. Hearings were postponed as the court monitored whether he was medically able to participate. During that period, the grand jury added the second murder charge. The court also addressed whether the defense wanted an independent autopsy of KJ. By mid-October, the defense said it would not seek another autopsy, clearing the way for the child’s body to be released to relatives for funeral arrangements.
Duncan was discharged from the hospital Oct. 30 and transferred to the Peoria County Jail. His release from medical care allowed the court to take up the detention issue more fully. Prosecutors argued that the allegations, Wood’s protection order, the circumstances surrounding the custody exchanges and the physical and digital evidence showed that Duncan should remain jailed. His attorney sought release with electronic monitoring and argued that living with relatives would allow Duncan to receive better medical care while the case was pending. Duncan appeared remotely at the hearing while using a wheelchair, according to local reporting.
Associate Judge Vincent Cail sided with prosecutors and ordered Duncan detained. The decision did not determine whether Duncan committed either killing. Pretrial detention addresses whether a defendant should remain in custody while charges are pending, rather than whether the state has proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. That distinction is important because several major questions remain contested, including the origin of the fire and the conclusions that should be drawn from the evidence recovered at the scene. Duncan is entitled to contest the charges and the admissibility and interpretation of the prosecution’s evidence.
The case now carries two first-degree murder counts, one involving Wood and one involving KJ. Prosecutors have said convictions on both counts could result in a mandatory life sentence. No such punishment can be imposed unless the state first obtains convictions. Authorities have not publicly released a complete minute-by-minute reconstruction of the Sept. 25 events, and the investigation remains open as the prosecution prepares its case and the defense reviews the evidence.
What happened inside the burning vehicle remains one of the case’s most important contested questions. Prosecutors allege Duncan deliberately caused the fire that killed KJ, while his attorney has raised the possibility of an accidental blaze. That dispute, along with the evidence surrounding Wood’s shooting, will remain subject to court review as Duncan stays jailed before trial.
Author note: Last updated November 9, 2026.