Prosecutors say new evidence links Jeremiah Duncan to Heaven Wood’s shooting and the vehicle fire that killed their 2-year-old son.

PEORIA, Ill. — An Illinois father accused of killing the mother of his young son and setting a vehicle fire that killed the 2-year-old boy will remain jailed before trial after prosecutors presented evidence that included a cellphone recording, a revolver with three spent rounds and items recovered near the fire scene.

Jeremiah J. Duncan, 24, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the Sept. 25 deaths of 20-year-old Heaven Wood and their son, KJ Duncan-Wood. The case has expanded significantly since Duncan was first charged only in Wood’s shooting. A Peoria County grand jury added a murder charge involving KJ in October, and a judge ordered Duncan detained following a Nov. 2 hearing held after he was released from a hospital burn unit and transferred to the Peoria County Jail. Duncan has not been convicted, and the allegations against him remain to be resolved in court.

The investigation began shortly after 6 a.m. Sept. 25, when Peoria County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a vehicle fire on Yorkshire in the Royal Oaks Estates area near West Peoria. Investigators connected the burning vehicle to a nearby home and went there for a welfare check. Deputies found Wood suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was taken to OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Two other children found at the residence were not physically injured. After firefighters extinguished the vehicle blaze, first responders found KJ inside. The toddler was pronounced dead at the scene.

Evidence disclosed at Duncan’s detention hearing gave a more detailed account of what prosecutors believe happened before deputies arrived. Authorities said investigators recovered a recording from Wood’s cellphone made that morning. According to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office, Wood and Duncan can be heard talking before Wood tells Duncan to leave or she will call police. Authorities said the recording then captures a brief struggle followed by three gunshots. Prosecutors presented the recording as part of their argument that Duncan should remain detained while the murder case moves forward. Public accounts of the hearing do not establish every movement of either person before or after the shots, and the evidence has not yet been tested at trial.

Investigators also described evidence found outside the home and around the vehicle. Deputies recovered burned pants and a revolver containing three spent rounds, prosecutors said. Witnesses reported seeing a man who appeared to be partially on fire running from the vehicle. Authorities also obtained surveillance footage that they said showed the car burning from the inside. A burned gas canister was found on the passenger-side floor, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors contend Duncan started the fire that caused his son’s death. His defense has challenged that interpretation, making the cause and circumstances of the fire an important disputed issue in the pending case.

The Peoria County Coroner’s Office determined that Wood died from multiple gunshot wounds. Coroner Jamie Harwood said KJ suffered severe smoke inhalation in the vehicle fire and likely died shortly after the blaze began. Those findings later became central to the two separate murder allegations against Duncan. Authorities initially announced a first-degree murder charge connected with Wood’s death on Sept. 28. At that point, no charge had yet been filed over the child’s death. On Oct. 13, Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos announced that a grand jury had indicted Duncan on an additional first-degree murder count accusing him of causing KJ’s death.

Duncan was not immediately available for normal court proceedings after his arrest because he suffered serious burns. Sheriff’s deputies and Peoria police found him around midday on Sept. 25 near Molleck Drive and Oak Crest Drive following a search that lasted several hours. Sheriff Chris Watkins said Duncan was carrying a knife when authorities took him into custody. He was transported for medical treatment and later moved to a burn unit in Rockford. His condition caused several court proceedings to be postponed. At an Oct. 5 hearing, his lawyer said Duncan was sedated and expected to undergo surgery. He remained under law-enforcement custody while receiving treatment.

The legal history between Wood and Duncan in the days before the killings has also become part of the prosecution’s account. Court records and prosecutors say Wood obtained an emergency order of protection against Duncan on Sept. 15. The order was served shortly afterward. On Sept. 18, 19 and 20, Duncan contacted the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office and requested deputies to stand by during custody exchanges involving Wood. Authorities said no such standby was requested on the morning Wood and KJ died. Because deputies had participated in the previous exchanges, one of the responding officers recognized the vehicle associated with Wood’s residence when authorities were called to the fire, prosecutors said.

That sequence has become significant because prosecutors are presenting the deaths as part of a domestic-violence case rather than as two unrelated events. Watkins described the killings as stemming from domestic violence shortly after the bodies were found. The emergency protection order, the repeated requests for law-enforcement presence during custody exchanges and Wood’s recorded demand that Duncan leave are among the circumstances prosecutors have cited. Those facts provide context for the state’s allegations, but they do not by themselves establish Duncan’s guilt on either murder count. Prosecutors must prove the charges in court, and Duncan is entitled to challenge the recordings, physical evidence, witness accounts and conclusions drawn from them.

The vehicle fire is one area where the prosecution and defense have already offered competing explanations. At the Nov. 2 detention hearing, prosecutors relied on the burned gas container, surveillance evidence and witness accounts to support their allegation that the fire was deliberately started. Duncan’s defense attorney argued that Duncan worked as a mechanic and kept gasoline in the front passenger area, raising the possibility that the fire was accidental. The defense also sought Duncan’s release with electronic monitoring so he could live with relatives and receive medical care while the case was pending. The court rejected that request. The competing fire theories are likely to remain important because the second murder count depends on the state’s allegation that Duncan caused the blaze that killed KJ.

Duncan’s medical condition shaped the first month of the prosecution. He remained hospitalized through much of October, delaying appearances as lawyers and the court monitored whether he was physically able to participate. He was discharged from the burn unit on Oct. 30 and transferred to the Peoria County Jail. At the Nov. 2 detention hearing, he appeared by video while using a wheelchair, according to local reporting. Associate Judge Vincent Cail ordered him held in jail, concluding that detention was warranted while the case proceeds. Prosecutors have said that convictions on both murder counts could expose Duncan to a mandatory life sentence under Illinois law, although any punishment would follow only after conviction.

Some details surrounding the morning remain unresolved publicly. Authorities have not released a full reconstruction explaining each movement between the home and burning vehicle, and the defense disputes the prosecution’s conclusion about how the fire began. The publicly described cellphone recording captures part of the encounter but not the entire sequence. Investigators have continued to gather evidence, and the State’s Attorney’s Office has said the investigation remains open. No trial has established what happened, and Duncan remains presumed innocent unless and until the state proves the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

With Duncan now in county custody, the prosecution has moved beyond the medical delays that slowed the case through October. He remains detained on two first-degree murder counts as prosecutors prepare to prove their allegations involving both Wood’s shooting and KJ’s death. Duncan can challenge the state’s evidence and remains presumed innocent unless convicted beyond a reasonable doubt.

Author note: Last updated November 9, 2026.