Sister of Holly Staker charged with robbery

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Heather Staker

Updated: February 29, 2012 8:07AM

WAUKEGAN — Heather Staker, the troubled twin sister of the murdered Holly Staker, was arrested Wednesday for attempted aggravated robbery and is in Lake County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.

She recently told a staff writer for the Lake County News-Sun that she and her boyfriend were having financial difficulties, and she still owed a lot of money for medical bills because of a stroke and brain surgery four years ago.

Heather, 31, allegedly went into a cigarette shop and tried to rob it, but instead was overpowered by a clerk and held for police, according to sources. Waukegan Police Chief Dan Greathouse declined Friday to release any information on the arrest.

“The family has been through enough at this time,” Greathouse said through a spokesman.

Heather recently told reporters that she still believed Juan Rivera was guilty of murdering her sister, but his three convictions were overturned and prosecutors set him free Jan. 6. Waukegan police re-opened the case this month.

Staker told the Lake County News-Sun that she was sick, She has struggled with addiction, been convicted of petty crimes and at least one felony. She has served time in prison. Her 4-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son are being raised by her mother, who lives in Wisconsin.

“I need closure,” she said, “I need to know what happened, exactly what she (Holly) went through. Before I even knew she was dead, I knew she was dead. I felt it.”

Rivera was jailed for more than 19 years for the 1992 stabbing and rape of 11-year-old Holly.

The case attracted national attention in part because DNA evidence found in Holly’s body after her Aug. 17, 1992, killing didn’t match that of Rivera, a former Waukegan resident who lived near the North Side apartment where she was killed while baby-sitting two younger children.