Man gets 20 years for killing roommate in Naperville

A west suburban man was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for strangling his 55-year-old roommate three years ago in Naperville.

Grant Muren, 24, was convicted in a bench trial last September of second-degree murder and arson in the Jan. 22, 2014, death of Charles Clarke, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

The men got into a fight after Muren moved into Clarke’s home on Vail Court in Naperville, and the younger man hit Clarke over the head with a small table before strangling him, prosecutors said.

Muren then turned on the oven and opened it to fill the house with natural gas, stuffed his rental papers into the toaster and turned it on, before taking off from the house with his things, prosecutors said. Naperville police were later called to the house, where they found Clarke dead in a bedroom.

Muren, who previously lived in St. Charles, was pulled over for a traffic violation and arrested the next day.

Judge Brian Telander handed down the sentence Thursday. Muren, who has been jailed on a $2 million bond since the killing, must serve at least nine more years behind bars, prosecutors said.