Cash bail was set at $2 million Tuesday for Ulisses Medina Espinosa of Beaver Dam. The prosecution had requested bail of $5 million.
Espinosa is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 30-year-old Stacia Hollinshead, of Sycamore, Illinois.
WITI-TV reports prosecutors say the domestic violence was spurred by a child custody dispute. Hollinshead filed for divorce from Medina Espinosa in May 2016 and sought an order of protection months later, alleging he verbally and digitally harassed her while she was requesting that his visits with their daughter be limited, according to court records
At one point, Hollinshead told a judge that Medina Espinosa called her 26 times in 20 minutes and 65 times during the course of one evening, including demands that she call him using “video-chat” so he could verify their location, she told a judge in a statement.
A judge granted the order of protection against Medina Espinosa, citing his mental instability, but that expired in June, as did his visitation rights, according to the newspaper.
Medina Espinosa then sought to get those rights restored in September, alleging that the girl had been sexually abused. Staffers from the Child Advocacy Center in Woodstock later determined she had not been sexually abused, paving the way for Medina Espinosa’s visitation rights to be reinstated if he underwent counseling and allowed Hollinshead to supervise the meetings.
“Both parties recognize the minor child needs to exercise parenting time with both parents,” court records show. “Both parents recognize the minor needs protection from the behavior that led to visitation rights being terminated.”
Hollinshead was shot inside a duplex where Espinosa’s parents live in Beaver Dam on Saturday. The couple’s young daughter was in the home at the time.
Hollinshead was an assistant state’s attorney in DeKalb County, west of Chicago. She graduated from Northern Illinois University law school in May 2018 and began working for DeKalb County last November.
Top image: Stacia Hollinshead LinkedIn Photo
