ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — The woman accused of hiding her son's body in a trash can will remain in jail after her petition for release was denied in a Rock Island County court on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Sushi Staples, 38, appeared in court to hear the petition from the Rock Island State Attorney's Office to deny her a pretrial release. The petition was granted, so Staples will remain in jail on no bond.
Staples is accused of concealing the death of her 10-year-old son Zion in a trash can outside her Rock Island home.
Rock Island County judge Peter Church brought up new information in court in regards to whether Staples would be either dangerous or a flight risk if released. Judge Church mentioned that the body of her son indicates it had been burned.
"I don’t know specifically how the body ended up being burned, but that also is a factor that the court is taking into consideration as well," Church said.
Staples was heard responding to that comment with "What? Oh my god."
In making his ruling to deny pretrial release, Church said, "I understand this was an accident, or at least how the state has proposed it for purposes of this hearing only, that said, it would appear the child had access to and unfortunately, we had a tragic ending when children have access to weapons in the house."
"There were witnesses in the house that were exposed to all of this, and they’re children. And I’m not convinced that even with conditions there would be concerns that the court would have with regard to the issue of dangerousness that pertains to those children or children in the community. So for that reason, the court is going to detain the defendant," Judge Church said.
Staples' first detention hearing initially had been scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 2, but her attorney, William Wolf, withdrew as her lawyer. She was appointed a public defender.
Also at the Nov. 2 hearing, it was ordered that Staples will be "evaluated by a qualified psychologist," according to court records after Judge Frank Fuhr heard a motion that questioned the mental fitness of the defendant.
Rock Island County Chief Public Defender Hany Khoury said Tuesday in court that after numerous discussions with Staples and some Robert Young Mental Health Center representatives in the jail, he "does not feel there is a 'bona fide doubt' to her mental fitness." Khoury plans to argue that in a later court hearing.
Staples is charged with concealment of a death, obstruction of justice, and failure to report the death of a child.
Case background:
On Wednesday, July 26, around 9:30 a.m., Rock Island Police began an investigation into a suspicious death in the 1700 block of 20 1/2 Avenue.
Rock Island County coroner Brian Gustafson confirmed the victim was identified as Zion Staples, a 10-year-old boy, from Rock Island.
News 8 spoke with a neighbor back in July, who couldn't believe this happened across the street from her.
"I've lost sleep over it and I've prayed a lot," the neighbor who wished to go by Deb only said. "I have to believe that she has done some extra measures to cover up that smell, otherwise nobody could have stood that, nobody."
An autopsy was performed on Friday, July 28, in Rockford. According to Gustafson, the preliminary results showed the death was "considered suspicious and not natural."
An autopsy revealed that the boy died from a gunshot wound, likely in December 2022. The body was discovered on July 26, 2023.
On July 26, Sushi M. Staples, then 37, was taken into custody and charged with concealment of a death, obstruction of justice, and failure to report the death of a child.
