Prosecutors say physical evidence conflicts with Lindsy Kendrick’s initial claim that her boyfriend shot himself after an altercation.

YORKVILLE, Ill. — An Illinois woman accused of killing her boyfriend faces six counts of first-degree murder after investigators said an autopsy, evidence inside their Yorkville residence and nearby surveillance footage undermined her initial account that the 28-year-old man had shot himself during a violent confrontation.

Lindsy Kendrick, 31, was arrested after the July 18 shooting death of Daevin Wlodek, according to police and court records described by local news organizations. Kendrick initially told officers that Wlodek had attacked her and then turned the gun on himself. Prosecutors, however, allege that Wlodek was shot in the back while trying to leave the apartment. The medical findings, the condition of both people at the scene and a short sequence captured by nearby surveillance became central parts of the state’s case as investigators moved from Kendrick’s 911 call to murder charges.

Police were dispatched at about 1:36 a.m. to the 100 block of West Hydraulic Avenue after Kendrick called 911 to report that her boyfriend had been shot. Officers found the front door open and Wlodek on the floor just inside the residence, according to court documents summarized by Patch and other outlets. A black 9mm Sig Sauer P320 was on the floor near him. First responders began emergency treatment before paramedics took Wlodek to Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora, where he was pronounced dead. Kendrick, who shared the residence with him, was at the scene when police arrived.

What investigators later learned from the autopsy became one of the most significant points in the case. The gunshot entered Wlodek’s back and exited through his chest, according to reports citing court documents. The physician who performed the autopsy considered the wound unlikely to have been self-inflicted. Wlodek also had scratches and bruising on his neck, hands and lower extremities. Long blond hair was found intertwined in the fingers of his right hand. Authorities have treated those observations as part of the broader physical record of an altercation, although the publicly available reports do not establish exactly when every injury occurred.

Kendrick, by contrast, was described by prosecutors as having no visible injuries. That detail mattered because she had told police that Wlodek attacked her before the shooting. The absence of visible injury alone does not establish what happened inside the apartment, and the allegations against Kendrick have not been proven in court. But investigators considered it alongside the location and direction of the gunshot wound, the condition of Wlodek’s body and Kendrick’s statements. Police also sought gunshot-residue evidence. Reports citing court filings said Kendrick declined to participate in a residue test, after which detectives obtained evidence under what was described in the records as an exigent-circumstances basis.

Officers also focused on what Kendrick said before and after she was taken into custody. Police said she was still on the phone when they arrived and was overheard telling another person that Wlodek had a gun and had fired it. After officers advised her of her rights, she continued describing an argument and told investigators that both she and Wlodek had been in what she called a “fit of rage.” Court records cited in local reporting say Kendrick stated on three separate occasions that Wlodek had been attempting to leave the apartment shortly before he was shot. Prosecutors allege that circumstance is consistent with their theory that he was shot from behind as he tried to go.

A nearby surveillance recording gave investigators another way to examine the timing. According to police reports summarized in court coverage, video from a brewery showed a man matching Wlodek’s description running toward the Hydraulic Avenue residence at approximately 1:15 a.m. About seven minutes later, at 1:22 a.m., the recording captured a single sharp noise that investigators described as consistent with a gunshot. Kendrick’s 911 call came afterward, with officers dispatched at 1:36 a.m. The recording does not show the shooting itself in the accounts reviewed, but prosecutors cited its timing as part of the sequence surrounding Wlodek’s death.

The case also carries a separate legal issue involving Kendrick’s ability to possess a firearm. Local court reporting said Kendrick had previously been convicted in Cook County of three felony aggravated-battery counts and was sentenced in April to two years of probation. Her Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification card had been revoked by the time of the July shooting, according to the court records cited by Patch. In addition to six first-degree murder counts, Kendrick was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. The exact theories underlying the individual murder counts were not fully detailed in the reports reviewed.

Yorkville Deputy Chief Garrett Carlyle said shortly after the killing that investigators had evidence strongly supporting their conclusion that the shooting occurred inside the residence. Police said Kendrick was the only other person found inside when officers arrived and that she was taken into custody without incident. Authorities continued processing the residence and reviewing evidence after her arrest. No publicly reported eyewitness was identified as having seen the gun fired, making the physical evidence, statements, forensic findings and timeline especially important to the prosecution account described in the early court filings.

Wlodek was 28 and died less than two weeks before what would have been his 29th birthday. An obituary published by his family described him as a father, son, brother and friend who loved skateboarding and adventure. It said he often described skating as his therapy and hoped to build a career connected to the sport, including through skating or the design of gear and apparel. The obituary said he is survived by his son, father, sister and other relatives. Those family details are separate from the evidence in the criminal case but show the loss behind a proceeding otherwise dominated by forensic findings and competing accounts of the final minutes inside the apartment.

The central question for the criminal case remains whether prosecutors can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kendrick fired the fatal shot and did so under circumstances meeting Illinois’ first-degree murder law. Her initial statement that Wlodek shot himself is contradicted by the prosecution’s interpretation of the autopsy and other evidence, but those allegations still must be tested through the court process. The publicly available reporting reviewed for this article did not establish that Kendrick had been convicted or that a judge or jury had made findings on the disputed events inside the apartment.

Early reports said Kendrick was detained in the Kendall County Jail and was scheduled to return to court July 28. Searches of publicly accessible reporting through Aug. 27 did not produce a reliable account establishing the outcome of that scheduled appearance or a later disposition of the case. The charges therefore remain allegations, and Kendrick is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 27, 2026.