Family defends child-murder suspect

Peoria Journal Star, The (IL)

Matthew Archer, 27, is accused of killing 3-year-old girl

Author: GARY L. SMITH

HENNEPIN - Matthew Archer's family and friends rallied vigorously to his defense Monday as the 27-year-old Granville man remained jailed in lieu of $5 million bond for allegedly murdering a 3-year-old child in his home last week.

"All I can say is Matt didn't do it," Chad Archer of Oglesby said after his brother had appeared in Putnam County Circuit Court on Monday afternoon. "Matt wouldn't hurt any child."

Matt Archer is accused of killing Jordan Cain, a niece of his fiance, by dropping his body knee-first onto the little girl's abdomen late Friday night in the Granville home. He and fiance Janice Schryer shared the home with three other children, including the couple's own 4-year-old daughter.

Archer appeared in court Monday to hear the formal charge of one count of first-degree murder. A short, slender man, he wore blue jeans and a T-shirt and sat quietly throughout the hearing with his eyes lowered and his handcuffed hands in his lap.

Police and ambulance personnel called to the 1132 E. Main St. home at about 11:10 p.m. Friday found the little girl lying on the kitchen floor and having difficulty breathing, according to an Illinois State Police report in the court file.

She was initially taken to St. Margaret's Hospital in Spring Valley. A physician in the emergency room concluded she had a lacerated liver that was bleeding into her abdomen from an injury probably caused within the previous couple of hours, according to a police report.

Schryer has given inconsistent statements about other injuries to the girl and "could offer no explanation on the origin of (Jordan's) internal injuries," stated an investigating officer's sworn report.

The girl was transferred to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where she died Saturday morning during a surgical attempt to save her, officials said.

Archer was arrested at 7:15 a.m. Saturday and charged with first-degree murder. At a probable cause and bond hearing Sunday night, Circuit Judge Scott Shore set bail at $5 million at the

request of Putnam County State's Attorney James Mack.

Mack would not discuss the case outside court Monday but said he had not ruled out the possibility of further charges.

According to information in court files and interviews with a number of Archer's relatives and supporters who came to court Monday, the defendant and Schryer, 24, had been together for several years and planned to get married Nov. 7. They had a 4-year-old daughter of their own and recently obtained custody of Jordan and two other children of a sister of Schryer.

Both Archer and Schryer have been approved as foster parents by the Department of Children and Family Services, and Jordan and her two brothers had been placed in the home by a LaSalle County Circuit Court ruling, according to a police report in the court file.

Schryer, who was in court Monday, was visibly distraught and did not want to talk to media, family members said. But her sister, Lisa Coan, insisted that Archer was not a man who would have harmed a child.

"If (Schryer) didn't trust him, they never would have had a kid together," Coan said.

All three of the other children had been sent to another foster home, but family members said they were hoping to get Schryer and Archer's own daughter returned soon. They asked that the child not be identified by name.

Archer, who apparently has no prior criminal record, would face at least 20 to 60 years in prison if convicted on the first-degree murder charge. Aggravating factors could lead to a life sentence or even the death penalty, but there was no discussion of those issues Monday beyond Circuit Judge Stuart Borden's formal words of warning to Archer.

The defendant's mother, Doris Archer of Wenona, broke into sobs as the judge mentioned the possibility of the death penalty. "Matt would never hurt anyone," she later said outside the courtroom.

Family members said outside court they had arranged for a private attorney to defend Archer but would not identify that person. Borden appointed the county's public defender, Roger Bolin, to represent him in the meantime and set a tentative court date of Nov. 20.

Outside the courthouse later, Benny Archer said his brother was so opposed to violence he even disapproved of deer hunting.

"Family, of course, we're going to say he's innocent," Benny Archer said. "But anybody who knows him knows he would not do anything like this."