SALINE CO., Ill. - At the press conference today, it was announced that the man who is accused of killing his estranged wife, former doctor Brian Burns, apparently took a page out of the playbook of Drew Peterson.
Burns is now accused of attempting to solicit someone from inside the Saline County Detention Center to kidnap Saline County State's Attorney Mike Henshaw.
The new charges against Burns are Conspiracy (Aggravated Kidnapping); Attempt (Aggravated Kidnapping) and Solicitation, all of them pertaining to an alleged plot Burns developed behind bars to get rid of Henshaw (as if that would do any good). He's accused of attempting to pay someone - who was really an undercover cop - a thousand dollars to abduct and detain the state's attorney.
WHY he thought this would work is beyond anyone's reckoning, but that's what the new charges are.
Burns' new charges constitute a completely separate case from the murder allegations, and a special prosecutor will be brought in to carry these to trial, since Henshaw was the alleged intended victim.
The person Burns allegedly solicited was Saline County Deputy David Blazier. Confused mainstream media representatives at the press conference today asked if Blazier were going to be indicted also. He's not. We understand this kind of thing (solicitation) can be confusing, but Blazier is part of the "good guy" team; he's not in trouble.
Burns remains jailed on a million-dollar cash bond, awaiting upcoming hearings on the murder of his wife, Carla.
More as we get it, including vid from the presser.