North Aurora hit-and-run a homicide, coroner's jury rules

The death of a 22-year-old woman who was sideswiped by a vehicle in North Aurora last October should be ruled a homicide, a Kane County Coroner's jury ruled Wednesday.

Doreen Cardenas of Cicero died from head injuries and blunt trauma on the way to Aurora's Mercy Medical Center on Oct. 25 after she and a friend were struck around 2 a.m. in the 0-99 block of Grant Street.

Lee Roy Patterson III, 30, of the 1000 block of Assell Avenue, Aurora, turned himself in later that day and is accused of two felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident, police said.

He is free on bond and due in court again April 15.

Patterson faces up to 15 years in prison on the most severe charge.

The coroner's jury does not decide guilt or innocence; its charge is to decide whether a death is a homicide, suicide, accidental, from natural causes or undetermined.

North Aurora Police Detective Dan Cyko said he responded to the scene where Cardenas and her friend Pedro Navarro were hit. Navarro had walked her to her car to say good night.

Cyko testified that a hubcap, mirror and plastic trim recovered at the scene matched Patterson's vehicle. Patterson also told police he didn't know he hit pedestrians, Cyko said.

“He said he struck a vehicle and left the scene because he was scared,” Cyko testified.

Cyko said blood taken at 9 a.m. that day showed Patterson's blood alcohol concentration to be .036; in Illinois the legal threshold for drivers is .08.

Cardenas's family and friends have attended all of Patterson's criminal hearings and family members cried during the inquest.

Jose Cardenas said his sister wanted to be governor of Illinois, was active at church and had a strong work ethic. “She was the type of girl that after knowing her for 10 minutes, you'd want to be her friend because she had that vibe to her,” Jose Cardenas said.

The families of Cardenas and Navarro have sued Patterson and Thompson's Plumbing and Hot Water Heating Co. of Maple Park, alleging Patterson was on-call for the company the morning of the crash, and that he stuck the pair with a company truck.

That case is due in court on April 13.