Kirk Zimmerman Today: The Acquittal, Retrial Question, and Case Status

Kirk Zimmerman today is a free man. A McLean County, Illinois, jury acquitted him on May 6, 2019, of murdering his ex-wife, Pamela Zimmerman, and no one else has ever been charged in her killing. Because he was found not guilty, double jeopardy bars the state from trying him again on that charge, and the case remains unsolved.¹²

What He Was Accused Of

Pamela Zimmerman, a Bloomington financial advisor, was shot multiple times inside her office in the Doctors Park area on the evening of November 3, 2014. Her secretary found her body the next morning.³⁴

The Bloomington Police Department focused on Kirk Zimmerman early. He was arrested on July 22, 2015, more than eight months after the killing, and charged with murder under McLean County case number 15-CF-894. He was released on bond and spent nearly four years under home confinement while the case moved through pretrial proceedings before Judge Scott Drazewski.⁴⁵

Prosecutors argued he killed Pamela out of “greed and hate,” pointing to a letter she sent on October 24, 2014, telling him she planned to take him back to court over roughly $5,000 in delinquent child support.⁶

The 2019 Acquittal

The trial ran 18 days at the McLean County Law and Justice Center, with jury selection starting around April 1, 2019, and opening statements on April 8. Assistant State’s Attorneys Mary Koll and Brad Rigdon prosecuted; John P. Rogers defended. The state called more than 60 witnesses.⁶

The jury deliberated roughly six and a half hours across three days before returning a not-guilty verdict on May 6, 2019. During deliberations, a juror reported that another juror had referenced a Pantagraph article to check the spelling of a name. Rogers moved for a mistrial, and the judge denied the motion.⁷¹

Why the State Lost

The prosecution’s case was circumstantial. No murder weapon was ever recovered, and jurors heard no evidence that Zimmerman had purchased or possessed a gun. Detective Tim Power testified that a lead suggesting Zimmerman traveled to Indiana to buy a handgun “did not produce evidence.”⁸¹

What the state did have was surveillance footage of a silver Hyundai Sonata matching Zimmerman’s car moving between Pamela’s office and the spot where her phone and wallet were later found, telematics and cell phone data, and gunshot residue testing from his vehicle. On cross-examination, the defense drew testimony that more than 680 Hyundai Sonatas were registered in the Bloomington-Normal area.¹⁹

The state also attacked Zimmerman’s alibi. He said he had been home napping on the evening of November 3 before a planned date with his girlfriend, Kate Arthur. Arthur testified that when she arrived at his house before 6:30 p.m., his car was not in the driveway and no one answered the door. She next heard from him by text around 7 or 8 p.m., in which he said he had fallen asleep after taking apart a trampoline. She confirmed seeing trampoline pieces in the backyard but noted the television was on when she arrived, which she found unusual if he had simply gone to sleep.⁹

A witness named Maria Legg made an emotional in-court identification of Zimmerman on April 22, 2019, saying she had seen him leave the rear of Pamela’s office on the night of the killing carrying a black garbage bag. Judge Drazewski had earlier ruled that the photo lineup used with Legg was “impermissibly suggestive” and threw out that identification, but he allowed her to identify Zimmerman in court based on what he called a “sufficient independent recollection.”¹⁰¹¹

Defense attorney John Rogers called the motive theory “fabricated.” He pointed out that Zimmerman earned a six-figure salary at State Farm, had no credit card debt, and had savings above $30,000, arguing he had no reason to kill over a roughly $3,900 child support dispute. Rogers described the case against his client as “speculation” with no physical evidence tying him to the scene.⁷¹²

Rogers also argued that Bloomington police had tunnel vision, treating Kirk as “the only real suspect from the start” while giving little attention to others in Pamela’s life. He named her fiancé, Scott Baldwin, and her last client of the day, Eldon Whitlow. Whitlow had met with Pamela until about 5:30 p.m. on November 3 and owned a 9 mm firearm, the same caliber used in the shooting. Police seized his gun two days after the killing and determined it was not the murder weapon. Whitlow denied any involvement from the witness stand.¹²¹³¹⁴

Can He Be Retried?

No. An acquittal on the murder charge triggers double jeopardy protection, which bars the state from prosecuting Kirk Zimmerman again for killing Pamela Zimmerman. The case against him is closed. The killing itself remains unsolved, and no other person has been charged.²

Where the Case Stands Now

The verdict split Pamela’s family. The couple’s three children, David, Heidi, and Rachel, publicly stood by their father. Heidi Zimmerman told NBC’s Dateline it was “this huge relief just to know that our dad wouldn’t be going away for something he didn’t do.” Members of Pamela’s extended family generally believed Kirk was responsible.³¹⁵

Dateline revisited the case in an episode titled “Before Midnight,” reported by Keith Morrison. It featured the Zimmerman children, Pamela’s friends and family, and Edith Brady-Lunny, the local journalist who covered the case for years at The Pantagraph.¹⁶³

Heidi Zimmerman put the family’s outlook this way in that interview: “I obviously hope that they do catch whoever did it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t.”³

1
The Pantagraph. Kirk Zimmerman Acquitted of Murder
2
Edith Brady-Lunny. Kirk Zimmerman Case Revisited
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Oxygen. Who Killed Pam Zimmerman
4
Illinois Courts. People v. Zimmerman, Nos. 4-17-0695, 4-17-0696
5
WGLT. Media Win Appeal in Zimmerman Murder Case
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WGLT. Differing Views of Zimmerman Divorce Emerge as Murder Trial Begins
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WCIA. Verdict Reached: Zimmerman Not Guilty of Ex-Wife’s Murder
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The Pantagraph. Car, Video, Statements Key Evidence in Zimmerman Case
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WGLT. Prosecutors Attempt to Poke Holes in Zimmerman Alibi
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The Pantagraph. Trial Proceedings in Zimmerman Case
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WJBC. Witness Testimony Will Be Heard at Kirk Zimmerman’s Trial
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WGLT. Kirk Zimmerman Murder Trial Goes to the Jury
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WJBC. Jurors Hear From Pam Zimmerman’s Final Client
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The Pantagraph. Fiancé, Client Deny Role in Pam Zimmerman’s Murder
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WJBC. Zimmerman Children Tell Their Story in Dateline Report About Mother’s Murder
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NBC News. Before Midnight