ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – After more than a decade since the grisly deaths of Natasha Cleary and her two children, charges are filed in their deaths.
Katonka Friar, 51, and Taurean Thomas, 38, are charged with first degree murder, aggravated arson and concealment of a homicidal death. Thomas is currently in custody at Marion Federal Correctional Institution on unrelated charges. Friar was arrested March 24 and is in the Winnebago County Jail.
In the early morning hours of April 17, 2011, Natasha “Tasha” Cleary, 30, and her sons, 12-year-old Marquwon Owens and 2-year-old Katarion Friar, were shot and burned beyond recognition at their home on Canterbury Lane in Rockford.
According to the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office, Katonka Friar, Cleary’s ex-husband and father of her 2-year-old son Katarion, has always been a prime suspect.
Cleary and Friar divorced in 2009 and he was ordered to pay child support that July. In March 2011, Cleary filed a petition against Friar for failure to pay child support. Notice was sent to Friar on March 23, 2011 alleging that he was in indirect civil contempt for failure to pay child support. The hearing date for that allegation was set for April 21, 2011. Investigators say Cleary had several orders of protection against Friar…