Rejda found dead in jail cell
The man accused of raping and murdering 24-year-old Lauren Kiefer last Christmas was found dead Friday in his cell at DuPage County Jail, according to authorities.
Robert Rejda, 26, of Oakbrook Terrace appeared in court Tuesday and expressed his desire to plead guilty to the crimes and to be sentenced to death. DuPage County Circuit Judge Michael Burke did not immediately accept the plea and ordered that he undergo testing to determine if he was mentally fit.
An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday, but it appears Rejda committed suicide and there was no indication of foul play, authorities said. Rejda had his own cell at the jail.
Public Defender Bob Miller, who was serving as Rejda's attorney, said he was surprised by the apparent suicide.
"I had spoken with him several times in the last few weeks. He left me a message on Thursday saying he was going to send me a letter asking for some additional information," Miller said. "He had never, ever said a word to me about suicide, contemplating suicide, anything of that nature."
Rejda allegedly sexually assaulted Kiefer last Christmas and beat her to death with a baseball bat at her home in unincorporated DuPage County near Oakbrook Terrace, according to prosecutors. Rejda called her residence at about 2:30 p.m. while she and her mother were at her sister's home in Lombard. He then broke into the home and waited for her to arrive, attacking her shortly before 6:30 p.m., prosecutors said.
Kiefer and Rejda both attended Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, and he lived only a few blocks from the home where Kiefer lived with her mother.
DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett was seeking the death penalty in the case.
Rejda was also charged with the 2005 rape of a 27-year-old Aurora woman. He followed the woman home from a Downers Grove bar before sexually assaulting and robbing her, prosecutors said. While the woman could not identify her attacker, Rejda was linked to the crime through DNA and fingerprint evidence.
Burke recently ruled that the earlier rape could not be used as evidence in the Kiefer case.
Rejda is the second county jail prisoner to commit suicide this year.
Jae Harrell, 25, of Willowbrook was found dead in his cell in June.
He was accused of beating his 59-year-old mother with a hammer and strangling her March 24 after an argument. He then left her body in her car in the parking lot of St. Joseph High School in Westchester, according to police. Later, he moved the car to the shoulder on the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago.