By WMBD TV
CREVE COEUR, Ill. (WMBD) — A woman who has worked as a police officer for Creve Coeur and Peoria is in jail Wednesday after being arrested for murder.
Caitlynn Girkin, 27, of Kewanee was booked into the Tazewell County Jail on the single charge of first-degree murder in connection with the March 10 shooting death of 29-year-old Adolfo Cazares of Creve Coeur, an Illinois State Police spokesperson said.
Online records with the jail also state she was booked into the facility at about 4:30 p.m.
Girkin is listed on the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board‘s website as having been a police officer since August 2023 when she first started with the Peoria Police Department.
She worked there for about a year and then moved to Creve Coeur where she was a part-time officer beginning in January 2025 and then came on as full-time in September 2025. The state’s website shows her employment as “active.”
Repeated attempts to confirm her employment with the village have not been successful. A spokesman with the Illinois State Police referred all calls to the village. Also, a spokesman with the training board also referred calls to the village.
In a statement released by the Creve Coeur Police Department, Police Chief Justin Egan called her a “former Creve Coeur police officer.”
Peoria Police spokeswoman Semone Roth declined to comment about Girkin’s time at that department.
Officers with the Creve Coeur Police Department were sent to the 500 block of Roosevelt Road after a 911 call, which was made by Girkin who said a man had shot himself
There, they found Cazares inside the house with a gunshot wound, according to the Creve Coeur police statement.
According to the Illinois State Police, Girkin was arrested Tuesday and taken to the jail where she remains pending a detention hearing. The investigation is active and ongoing.
No formal charges have been filed against her of Wednesday. Given that she was booked into jail at about 4:30 p.m., That likely means she’ll be charged Thursday and appear in court later that day as prosecutors have 48 hours after she’s taken into custody to file a charge.
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
