Friends say boyfriend of missing Illinois woman is key to finding her but won't help
Friends and loved ones of Melissa Trumpy believe her boyfriend may know what happened to the 37-year-old mother of three, who hasn’t been seen in four months.
The problem, they say, is Trumpy's boyfriend, Derek Hammer, is in jail facing charges for guns, drugs and domestic abuse, and since those charges involve Trumpy, they fear he'll never help find her.
“He won’t ever cooperate,” said Benny Affrunti, the father of two of Trumpy’s children.
Hammer, 35, posted a $2,500 bond last week in Stephenson County, where he was being held on other drug charges.
Related: Sister fears Monticello woman who was last seen in late October is dead
After being released from the Stephenson County Jail, he was immediately transferred to Green County, Wisconsin, to face several offenses, including illegal gun possession, operating a drug house and domestic abuse.
Hammer’s Green County allegations relate to an incident last September at the Monticello, Wisconsin, home he shared with Trumpy. In that case, Trumpy was charged as a party to the drug offenses and was reportedly cooperating with police as a witness against him.
A judge set Hammer’s bond at $73,000 cash Thursday; money Trumpy’s friends say his family could raise to get him out of jail.
Affrunti said he believes it would be a mistake for anyone to post Hammer's bond, adding that the allegations of violence in the September incident and Hammer's prison record give him cause for alarm.
"If he gets out, we will be looking over our shoulders nonstop," Affrunti said.
Daniel Kaiser, Trumpy's friend, agrees. He said Melissa told him days before she disappeared that she was afraid of Hammer.
"She was terrified to go back to her house," Kaiser said.
While it's not clear if Hammer will make bond and get out of jail, he appeared confident that the case against him won't stick, telling the judge during his bond hearing that he's been jailed since Halloween on “Mickey Mouse charges that will just be dropped anyway.”
Prison records in Nevada show he was sentenced in 2018 to 35 to 108 months behind bars for battery by strangulation and possession of an explosive device. He was credited with 642 days time served and was granted parole after four months.
Hammer has not been named a person of interest in Trumpy's disappearance.
Search parties have combed wooded areas, swamps, ditches and private property in and around Shannon since she went missing but have come up empty.
Affrunti said those who are still out searching gave up hope weeks ago that Trumpy would be found alive.
“Melissa is gone permanently, and my kids will never have their mother back,” he said.
Trumpy was last seen with Hammer on Oct. 26, at his mother's home in Shannon.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Melissa Trumpy is urged to call the Carroll County Sheriff's Office at 815-244-2635. The Freeport Police Department is assisting in the investigation and can be reached at 815-235-8222.
Jim Hagerty: jhagerty@rrstar.com; @jimhagerty
This article originally appeared on Journal Standard: Melissa Trumpy missing: Illinois woman's boyfriend is key, friends say