Convictions of local murderers upheld

Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe announced Thursday that his office received word this week that the third district appellate court of Illinois recently upheld the murder convictions of Dee Eastman and Phillip Horrell. Eastman was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1990 after he shot and killed a woman on the street in front of a Kankakee School, then shot and wounded then Bradley Police Officer Jeff Hackley and the Kankakee City Detective Sergeant Larry Osenga. Horrell was sentenced to life in prison after he plead guilty in the 2013 stabbing death of Doctor Jame Goldenstein and wounding of his wife Betty. Horrell stabbed the couple less than 48 hours after being let out of prison on parole. In a Facebook post, Rowe said the ruling by the appellate court means the two will serve the remainder of their life sentences in prison.