Murder Comes Home investigates the case of Lila Warwick, a 79-year-old grandmother who was killed in her home in Willmar, Minnesota, in July 2013. She was murdered by a teenager, Brok Junkermeier, who was aided by Warwick’s grandson, Robert Warwick.
Junkermeier, with Robert Warwick’s help, masterminded a plan to rob and murder Lila Warwick. Robert gave Junkermeier the code to enter her garage and had told him where a key was hidden.
Robbery was motive for killing Lila Warwick
Junkermeier then forced Lila to write him a check for $1500 while threatening her with a knife. He then brutally murdered her, leaving her home smeared in blood.
Friends of Junkermeier would later recount how he had spent months planning the murder and discussing it openly with his friends. Tyler Stegeman and Morgan Hoffer would later testify against their friend in court. They both said that they’d assumed Junkermeier wouldn’t go through with the crime, thinking that it was just talk.
Junkermeier told his two friends that he’d tried to murder Warwick by strangling her, but when that failed, he attempted to break her neck by stomping on her throat. Eventually, he stabbed her and threw her body into the basement.
Junkermeier boasted about his crime
Hoffer recorded on his cellphone part of the conversation he had with Junkermeier. Eventually, police obtained the recording and used it as evidence against the killer.
When Stegeman and Hoffer were asked at the trial about Junkermeier’s demeanor when he told them he had killed Warwick, they said, “he seemed happy,” and “excited, almost proud.”
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelJunkermeier unexpectedly pleaded guilty at this trial in March 2014 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He allegedly broke down in tears on being convicted. In a statement, he told the court that if he could trade his life for Lila Warwick’s, then he would do so.
A few months later, Robert Warwick pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years. A third teenager, Devon Jenkins, only 17 at the time of trial, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder. He had waited outside in a getaway car.
More from Murder Comes Home
Follow the links to read about more crimes profiled on the TV series that specializes in murders that occur in the home. There was the case of Marioara Shand, who was murdered in her home in Taos, New Mexico, by her 17-year-old neighbor, Nathaniel Duran. Duran raped and stabbed Shand multiple times.
Then there’s the case of Josh Caspari, a cold-hearted killer who staked out the home of Anne Catherine Cardwell before attacking her with such brutality that it affected hardened investigators.
Watch Murder Comes Home at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.