A 30-year-old Indiana mother lured the father of her children to a roadside meeting with a casual text asking to “hang out,” then shot him and drove to his parents’ home to kill them too, prosecutors allege in newly released court documents that lay out a chilling sequence of premeditated violence in suburban Illinois.
Jenna Strouble of St. John, Indiana, now faces nine counts of first-degree murder in the March 22 deaths of Jacob Lambert, 32, and his parents, Patrick Forde, 55, and Stacy Forde, 54. If convicted, she could spend the rest of her life in prison.
The court filings, first detailed by Fox News Digital, paint a picture of deliberate planning, a gun purchased months in advance, a suppressor bought online, and a handwritten note penned the night before the killings that named three of Strouble’s children and asked others to care for them.
Prosecutors say Strouble contacted Lambert on the day of the killings and asked him to “hang out.” She then drove toward Plum Creek Nature Preserve, but when she found it closed, she pulled over on Burnham Road in Sauk Village instead. Lambert met her there in a vehicle.
What happened next, prosecutors allege, was methodical. Strouble offered Lambert a back massage. Court documents say she rubbed his back for about 20 minutes. Then she reached under the passenger seat, retrieved a Glock handgun, and shot him.
Lambert’s body was later found in the passenger seat of a 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium parked in a nearby cul-de-sac.
But Strouble was not finished. Prosecutors allege she drove to the home of Lambert’s parents in Crete Township, Illinois. She allegedly tried to use Lambert’s keys to get inside. When Patrick Forde came to the door, she shot him, 17 times in the chest and abdomen, prosecutors say. Stacy Forde came downstairs and was shot three times in the chest and abdomen.
Deputies arrived at the Forde home around 2 a.m. on March 23. They found Patrick Forde’s body in the dining room. Stacy Forde was lying on the stairs.
Strouble allegedly returned to her home in St. John, Indiana, and called her sister to tell her what she had done. When officers arrived to take her into custody, prosecutors said she walked outside and handed them a loaded Glock 19 fitted with a suppressor.
Court documents revealed that Strouble told investigators she went to the meeting “with an intention” to harm Lambert. When investigators asked whether she came to his parents’ home to finish her plan, she reportedly answered: “Yeah, pretty much.”
The documents also show Strouble allegedly admitted to purchasing the gun in December 2025, three months before the killings. She bought the suppressor online for roughly $589.
Strouble and Lambert were co-parenting their two young children. Prosecutors pointed to Strouble’s complaints about Lambert’s parenting and her tensions with his family as a possible motive. When investigators asked whether she killed Lambert’s parents because she did not want them to take custody of the children, Strouble responded: “that’s some of the reasons.”
The handwritten note Strouble penned the night before, naming three of her children and asking that they be cared for, suggests she anticipated she might not return. It is among the most damning pieces of evidence prosecutors have disclosed so far.
The New York Post reported that Strouble had a documented history of mental-health and domestic issues. The Post described Lambert as Strouble’s on-off boyfriend and confirmed that authorities arrested her hours later in Indiana with a firearm matching the one used in the killings. Lambert was found dead in his car outside the family home, while Stacy and Patrick Forde were found inside.
Lambert’s relative Emily Conner wrote on Facebook that the loss defied words.
“Our hearts are incredibly heavy, and there truly aren’t words for a loss like this.”
Conner added that Lambert had recently reached a milestone that meant everything to his family.
“Jake had just celebrated one year of sobriety, something we were so proud of and that meant so much.”
A 32-year-old father, one year sober, rebuilding his life. His parents, ages 55 and 54, in their own home in a quiet township south of Chicago. All three gone in a single night.
Strouble was set to appear in court Tuesday, where a judge would determine whether she remains in custody until trial. Fox News Digital reported it was unable to immediately locate an attorney assigned to represent her.
The nine first-degree murder counts, three per victim, carry the possibility of life in prison. The evidence prosecutors have already made public, from the suppressor purchase to the handwritten note to Strouble’s own admissions during questioning, suggests they intend to prove this was no impulsive act of violence.
Three people are dead, two young children have lost their father and both grandparents, and the woman charged with all of it told investigators she showed up “with an intention.” When the system works as it should, intention has consequences.
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