Jamere Bew

On November 25, 2023, the body of Jamere Donte' Bew, a 31-year-old Black man from Bloomington, Illinois, was found in a ditch in a rural area of Funks Grove Township, between McLean and Heyworth. An autopsy determined that Bew had died from multiple gunshot wounds, but authorities reported he had also been severely beaten.

The investigation began around 7 a.m. that morning after McLean County sheriff's deputies received a report from a woman who said her friend had been shot. The information led law enforcement to an apartment in the 1600 block of Springfield Road in Bloomington. When officers arrived, they smelled a strong odor of bleach and discovered a bloody couch and other items in a nearby dumpster. From inside the apartment, they reportedly heard someone say, "we gotta burn all of it." Police then detained two men at the residence, Justin G. Kletz, 26, and Derek P. Siebring, 18.

According to prosecutors, the violence began after Gabrielle A. Stine, who was dating Bew, told Kletz and Siebring that Bew had sexually assaulted her while she was sleeping at their apartment. Enraged, the two men attacked Bew. They allegedly beat him with a baseball bat, strangled him with a cord, and bound him with duct tape. Prosecutors stated that Stine took photographs and a video of Bew while he was bound and bleeding in the apartment.

The three then put Bew in the trunk of Stine's car and drove him to the rural location where his body was later found. After throwing him in a ditch, Siebring shot him four or five times. Kletz and Siebring were arrested that day. Stine, 23, was initially charged with residential burglary in connection with the case but was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in June 2024.

All three defendants ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Derek Siebring was sentenced to 65 years in prison. Gabrielle Stine was sentenced to 40 years in prison; in exchange for her plea, charges of aggravated kidnapping and residential burglary were dismissed. Justin Kletz, the last of the three to be sentenced, received a 70-year prison term. As of October 2025, all three individuals responsible for Bew's murder had been convicted and sentenced.