A former Joliet Township resident accused of killing his wife in 1988 will remain out of jail as he awaits trial in a mystery that has spanned nearly 40 years. Will County Judge Art Smigielski this week denied a motion to detain Gilbert Bernal Sr. until his trial. However, the 82-year-old man, who m oved to Michigan in the years since his wife’s passing, will have to remain in Illinois on 24-hour electronic monitoring. Bernal was arrested in January on charges that he murdered his wife, Joan Bernal, in their Joliet Township home following an argument as the couple prepared for a trip to Texas. It is the second time Bernal has faced charges accusing him of killing his spouse. He has repeatedly denied any involvement in her disappearance. Bernal was initially charged in his wife’s death in 1993, but the case was dropped when two people came forward claiming they had seen Joan Bernal alive. Bernal has not been heard from since Dec. 9, 1988, and her body has never been found. Joan Bernal’s daughter, Sarita Woerheide, was visibly upset as Smigielski issued his ruling, finding Bernal did not pose a flight risk and his criminal history was “insignificant.” While Smigielski noted there was “significant” social history — including Bernal’s own statements — of violence between the 1970s and early 2000s, he noted Bernal has had no criminal history in the last 20 years. “The judge made a very difficult, but right, decision,” said Bernal’s attorney, David Carlson, noting the state’s pre-trial fairness act, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act, requires certain conditions be met for pre-trial detention. Bernal turned in his passport Wednesday and provided authorities with the address of the home in Illinois where he will be staying. His current wife and other family members who are supporting him have declined comment. “There’s really no physical evidence; there’s nothing to establish that a crime was committed,” Carlson said. Woerheide, who started a Facebook page titled “Help Us Find Joan Bernal” in 2017, has described her father as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The only child of Joan and Gilbert Bernal, Woerheide was 2 when her mother, then 34, disappeared. “In times like these, when we don’t get the outcome we hoped for — we must lean into our resilience and just keep fighting,” Woerheide wrote in a post on the Help Us Find Joan Bernal Facebook group a day after Smigielski’s decision. “Yes, we lost a big battle, but the war isn’t over.” Joan Bernal had a son and daughter from a previous marriage who were 11 and 6 years old at the time she disappeared, according to court documents. Gilbert Sr. had two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage who were then 11, 10 and 7 years old. Joan Bernal of Joliet went missing in 1988 and has not been seen since. Her husband, Gilbert Bernal Sr., is facing murder charges. (Will County Sheriff's Office) Woerheide and the couple’s other children were in court for Smigielski’s ruling. They declined comment for this story. Joan Bernal’s disappearance captured the attention of the podcast “The Vanished” in 2020. Last year, her story was the subject of “Cold Justice” on the Oxygen network, which contacted the Will County Sheriff’s Office in 2023. In October 2025, crews from the show and the sheriff’s office excavated the yard of the Zarley Road home the couple once shared, but nothing was found. Though no new physical evidence has been discovered, Will County Sheriff Sgt. Mike Earnest said one of the two people who claimed to have seen Joan Bernal alive has since recanted that statement. The other witness is now deceased, according to court records. Court documents also show that Gilbert Sr.’s son, Gilbert Jr., remains steadfast in his statement as a child that he heard his father and Joan arguing the day they were to leave for their trip. In a statement as a child, Gilbert Jr. said he saw his father grab Joan by the neck and hair and jerk her head back and forth. In a 2024 statement, Gilbert Jr. said he could not recall his father yanking Joan’s head back and forth, but he maintained earlier statements that he saw his father drag Joan’s limp body toward the back of the house. Gilbert Sr. has steadfastly denied those claims, saying that after he dropped off his children with his ex-wife, he and Joan decided to take the trip to Texas with their daughter, Sarita. He said that when they reached Oklahoma, Joan had a change of heart and wanted to return to Illinois to get her other children. He told investigators he gave her money for a flight to Texas and dropped her off at a bus terminal in McAlester, Texas. He maintained that is the last time he heard from her. Earnest said he questions how Joan, whose life was controlled by Gilbert Sr., could start a new life without any resources or even a car. “She hasn’t been seen alive since she went missing,” Earnest said. “She has not contacted her kids in the last 37 years, she hasn’t been seen by anyone and she’s not talked to her mom or sisters. There’s no way that she’s still just wandering around.” Alicia Fabbre is a freelancer.  ...read more read less