Mom who once went missing with kids now charged in shooting
Left and Right: Aneta Marsek in 2012 missing person photos (Lake County Sheriff’s Office). Center: Marsek’s 2024 attempted murder case mug shot (McHenry County Sheriff’s Office).
An Illinois, woman who was taken for mental health treatment in 2012 after disappearing with her two young daughters and sparking a nationwide missing persons case is making headlines again exactly 12 years later after she allegedly shot a man in a domestic violence incident and hid the gun under a mattress.
Aneta Marsek, now 45, opened fire and “seriously injured” a man before noon on Thursday, Oct. 10, at a Wonder Lake-area home on East Tryon Grove Road, according to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said they were acting on reports that there were “two possible gunshot victims.” When investigators got to the scene, the victim had a “life-threatening gunshot wound” and the suspect had “non-life-threatening injuries,” appearing to explain why Marsek’s head is bandaged in her mug shot.
“The male was flown to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford in critical condition. Aneta was flown to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville,” the sheriff’s office said.
Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Marsek is expected to appear in court on Wednesday morning to face charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery through the discharge of a gun, aggravated domestic battery, and two counts of obstruction of justice.
As of Monday afternoon, she does not have a bond. Marsek has been in jail since the early morning hours of Friday.
The Lake & McHenry County Scanner reported that the obstruction counts relate to Marsek’s alleged attempt to hide the gun under a mattress at the crime scene and to blame the shooting on an intruder.
On Oct. 11, 2012, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office put out an urgent alert that Marsek’s estranged husband reported her and her two young children as missing persons who hadn’t been seen for five days. The missing person report was made on Oct. 10, 2012, the same day as the shooting 12 years later.
A Patch article from 2012 detailed that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children played a prominent role in bringing the case far-reaching media visibility. Eventually, Marsek herself learned of the ongoing search, turned up at a gas station in Wisconsin, and revealed that she had been living out of a car in the woods with the children.
The report said she explained that she felt she had to “get away” from Illinois and go to Dells, Wisc., on vacation because “childhood memories” were there.
While the children were considered “relatively healthy and safe,” Marsek was reportedly taken to a mental health facility in Wisconsin.
At the time, Marsek’s father said his daughter “needs help,” local CBS affiliate WBBM reported.
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