Fulton County, IN – Joshua J. Adams, a 27-year-old Kankakee resident, has been sentenced in Fulton County for his involvement in the fatal shooting of Bradley police Sergeant Marlene Rittmanic in December 2021.Â
Adams received a six-year prison sentence with three years suspended, followed by probation upon his release, as part of a plea deal approved by Fulton Circuit Judge Chris Lee. His executed sentence will be capped at three years.
Adams was arrested on December 31st, 2021, after a chase in Rochester with Bryce D Baker of Bradley, Illinois, that ended at Lake Manitou. Police later found Rittmanic’s service weapon wrapped in a towel on the shore of the lake.
The incident that led to Adams’ sentence occurred on December 22, 2021, when Sgt. Rittmanic and her partner, Tyler Bailey, responded to a call of dogs barking in an unattended car. When they arrived, the people inside the room began attacking them and shooting them. Rittmanic, 49, was killed, and Bailey was critically injured.
Following the incident, eight people have been charged in connection to the case, including 25-year-old Darius D. Sullivan of Bourbonnais and 26-year-old Xandria Harris of Bradley. Adams was charged with assisting a criminal.
Sgt. Rittmanic had served with the Bradley Police Department for nearly 30 years and was known for her dedication to serving her community. Rittmanic was gunned down in a year that saw the highest number of law enforcement officers intentionally killed in the line of duty since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The last time a law enforcement officer was killed in the line of duty in Kankakee County was in 1996 when Officer Anthony Samfay was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop near Greenwood Avenue in Kankakee, Illinois. His shooter, Eric Lee, of Kankakee, was later sentenced to death.
