Possible Plea Deal in the Works for Romeoville Man Accused in Wife's Hammer Death

A Romeoville man charged with bashing his wife's head in with a claw hammer just before she died of natural causes is waiting on a judge to review material provided by his attorney and prosecutors.

After Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak peruses the paperwork tendered during a Friday morning court hearing, she and the attorneys will hold a closed-door meeting to see if a plea deal is possible for John Sadler, 69.

Sadler, a retired accountant, was jailed on a murder charge after Romeoville police found the 10-day-old corpse of his wife, Carol Sadler, 66, in their Benzie Circle home in July 2010.

But three months later, prosecutors dropped the charges from murder to aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery of a senior citizen. Sadler's bond was reduced from $3 million to $300,000. He posted the $30,000 he needed to secure his freedom nearly immediately after the bond reduction and has been out and about ever since.

While John Sadler had reportedly admitted to police that he hit his wife in the head with a hammer, an autopsy performed on Carol Sadler's body showed that even if her husband of 46 years did so, the blow was not what killed her. Carol Sadler instead succumbed to a heart attack, the autopsy reportedly revealed.

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