Andrea Will was just a freshman in college, with her entire life ahead of her when she was tragically murdered on February 2nd, 1998.
Andrea’s death came as a shock to not only her family and friends, but also to Eastern Illinois University where for more than two decades they enjoyed a sense of safety and comfort. Nobody had ever expected what happened to Andrea to happen in this area.
Andrea’s murder was senseless, and nothing more than rage by someone she had once trusted. She was looking forward to enjoying the rest of her college experience, but sadly that dream was snatched away from her one fateful night.
Andrea Will was just 18 years old at the time of her death in early 1998. She was a freshman attending Eastern Illinois University majoring in marketing.
Andrea had graduated from Batavia High School in 1997 before deciding to attend the university.
Andrea’s mother and friends have described her as being an extremely kind person. She had an infectious smile, and you couldn’t help but find yourself smiling while talking to her.
She was a polite, but shy girl who was excited to see what the future held for her. Andrea had just began college, and she was excited to begin this new journey and make a lot of new friends along the way.
Andrea decided to join the Sigma Kappa sorority at the university, and as far as everyone knew, everything was going great for her at the time.
Andrea began dating a young man when she first began attending the university and living on campus. His name was Justin Boulay and he was 20 years old at the time. According to Andrea’s family and friends, she did really seem to like Justin at first.
However, being just 18 and a freshman in college, Andrea began having second thoughts about being in a relationship at this time. Andrea had just joined a sorority, and she was meeting all new people, so she began to contemplate whether or not she wanted to continue dating Justin.
Andrea’s mother recalls talking to her about this over the phone when she was back at school for the spring semester in 1998.
Andreas mother, Patricia, says that she told her daughter it was completely normal to be feeling how she was. Patricia told Andrea that if she didn’t want to be with Justin anymore, then to be honest with him and end things now rather than later.
This was Andrea’s plan on the night of Monday February 2nd, 1998. She was planning to meet up with her boyfriend Justin and officially break up with him. She thought he would be understanding as she had always known him to be, but little did she know at the time, it would be the complete opposite.
Justin Boulay was a sophomore studying history at Eastern Illinois University when this crime occurred in 1998.
He was described as being a well-mannered young man that was liked by those around him.
During his high school years, Justin attended St. Charles High School and was a student athlete that played both basketball and football.
Justin had never really gotten into any trouble up to this point. He lived in an apartment off campus while attending school, and even his neighbors described him as very nice, but shy at the same time.
When Justin and Andrea first met in the fall of 1997 they immediately both liked each other. It was Andrea’s first semester of college and she was looking for friends and someone to help her navigate it all and Justin became that person for her.
They began dating that first semester and according to everyone that knew them, they seemed happy and everything was going well.
However, as we know Andrea began having second thoughts about being in a relationship at the time. These thoughts first arose when Andrea and Justin were both back at home with their parents over that Christmas break. Justin tried calling Andrea several times over the break to talk to her, but each of his calls went unanswered.
Justin was confused why Andrea was suddenly ignoring him, but he knew that they would eventually be able to talk to each other when they came back to school in the spring of 1998 for that semester.
Both Andrea and Justin returned to Eastern Illinois University for the spring semester in early 1998. After ignoring all of his calls while at home for break, Andrea had finally got enough courage to call Justin and ask if he wanted to talk.
So, at around 10 p.m. on February 2nd, 1998, this was the plan. Andrea called Justin and told him she wanted to talk to him in person, and they both agreed that he would come pick Andrea up and they would go back to his apartment that night.
Justin left his apartment and knocked on his downstairs neighbor’s door which was a man named Brian Graham. Justin asked Brian if he could borrow his car. Brian said he knew Justin well enough at this point and never thought anything bad about him so he happily agreed to let Justin borrow the car for the night.
Justin then proceeded to make the short drive to Lawson Hall on the Eastern Illinois campus where Andrea lived and picked her up. Andrea got in the car with Justin and they drove back to his apartment to have their conversation.
Investigators still aren’t certain all that was talked about during Andrea and Justin’s conversation in his apartment that night. But, we do know that Andrea did break up with Justin and told him that she had been dating other men and that she didn’t want to be in a relationship with him anymore.
After Justin heard that Andrea had been dating other men, he flew into a fit of rage. Justin grabbed the first thing he saw, which was the telephone, and he without hesitation wrapped the phone cord around Andrea’s neck and squeezed as hard as he could.
Justin continued strangling Andrea with the telephone cord until her body went limp and she was no longer breathing.
After Andrea was already dead, Justin began to panic looking at what he had just done. It was just after midnight and Justin called his parents to tell them “something terrible has happened” and ask them to drive down to his apartment right away.
It was about a three hour drive from Justin’s parents house to his apartment, but they could tell by the amount of panic in his voice that they needed to get there right away.
After Justin’s parents arrived at his apartment, he went downstairs to meet them and he broke down in tears and confessed that Andrea was in his apartment and “she was hurt” or “maybe even worse”.
So, just after 5 a.m. on February 3rd, 1998, Justin’s parents drove him to the Charleston Police Department where he told them what happened. Officers were immediately sent to his apartment where they discovered Andrea’s dead body laying in his bedroom.
Justin was immediately arrested and charged with Andrea’s murder, but he claimed he had no memory of actually killing her. He said that he lost it after she told him she had been dating other men and the last thing he remembers was seeing Andrea, already deceased in his bedroom.
Justin was later sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, 18 year old Andrea Will. Andrea’s mother was absolutely devastated when she heard what happened to her daughter, and she’s said ever since that Justin’s sentence wasn’t long enough.
After only serving about half of his sentence, Justin Boulay was released from prison in November of 2010 for his good behavior. Andrea’s family and friends tried everything in their power to stop this from happening, but the parole board had already made up their minds.
Justin Boulay was now a free man, and he moved to Hawaii to live with his wife who he married in 2007 while in prison. Andrea’s family and friends were extremely upset that Justin was released from prison early and is now out there living his life as a free man.
Sally Zikas, one of Andrea’s sorority sisters stated
“He can have a family now, he can do all the things that Andrea wasn’t able to do. And it’s infuriating.”
That’s exactly what Justin Boulay is doing today as I’m writing this. He’s a free man out there in the world, and Andrea is still gone and he’s responsible for that.
After Justin was released from prison, Andrea’s mother Patricia advocated for a new law to be put in place known as “Andrea’s Law”. This law created the Illinois Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry and went into effect in January of 2012.
Andrea’s Law requires anyone convicted of first-degree murder to add their names, addresses, and other information to a public database for ten years after their release.
Although Andrea’s killer was caught and convicted, he’s still able to go on and live a normal life today which is something she’ll never get to have. Andrea’s family and friends still keep her memory alive today and spread awareness about what happened to her.
The Sigma Kappa sorority at Eastern Illinois University also hold a yearly vigil on February 2nd to honor Andrea’s memory and to remind everyone of her life and her story.
Sources:
HuffPost. (2011, May 25). Killer of Young Coed will walk, serve parole in Hawaii. HuffPost.