An Illinois man is behind bars after police allege he hid the body of his girlfriend, found shot in the head and concealed her in a barn.

The Daily Journal reports that authorities found 24-year-old Kaitlyn Kearns, of Mokena, in a pole barn in a rural area of Kankakee County. She’d been missing since Monday, last seen at her job as a bartender at Woody’s Bar in Joliet.

Kearns’ father, Kevin Kearns, reported his daughter missing on Tuesday when she failed to come home. Investigators used “electronic means” to locate Kearn’s vehicle, which led them to a residential property in Aroma Park Township, where they found the victim’s 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the barn. Her lifeless body was found inside the Jeep.

According to Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe, Kearns’ boyfriend, Jeremy Boshears, 32, is being charged with concealing her murder. They pair had only been dating a few weeks when Kearns disappeared. Authorities said they met at Woody’s around four weeks ago, and began dating a few weeks later. Will County sheriff’s police indicated that the victim was shot once in the head.

“She was a wonderful, wonderful girl, something like this should have never happened to her,” said Kevin Kearns, according to ABC7. “”I have a lot of confidence in the investigator that’s on case right now.”

The distraught father, along with the victim’s friends and family, can’t understand what happened to make the suspect allegedly hurt someone as caring as Kearns.

“She lit up the room. When she was in the room, you knew it. And she didn’t even have to talk,” said the victim’s uncle, Tim Kearns.

Boshears is being held behind bars on a $250,000. His charges could be upgraded to murder, depending on the autopsy report.

Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.

[Feature Photo: Kaitlyn Kearns, Jeremy Boshears/Handout, Police Handout]