Wisc. man held in fatal hit-and-run in Ingleside
A 35-year-old Wisconsin man is being held in lieu of $250,000 bond, charged with killing a man in a hit-and-run accident in early February, Lake County sheriff officials said Monday.
Lake County sheriff's police spokesman Sgt. Christopher Thompson said Jeffrey M. Terlap of Trevor, Wis., is being held in the Lake County Jail. He is accused of hitting and killing John P. Brink, 25, of Cary with a 1998 Ford Explorer on Route 59, just west of Wilson Road in Ingleside.
Terlap turned himself over to sheriff's deputies at 9:45 a.m. Monday in response to a warrant issued for his arrest, Thompson said. He has been charged with failure to report an accident involving death, a felony.
John Brink was bicycling on Route 59 about 9:15 p.m. Feb. 9, heading to a nearby convenience store for cigarettes. Thompson said Brink was hit by a truck recently purchased by Terlap, and Brink was killed and Terlap fled.
Thompson said investigators recovered vehicle parts from the scene and traced them, eventually discovering the type and color of the vehicle in the hit-and-run.
He said investigators checked records of all 1997-98 Ford Explorers in the northern Illinois area. The officers then interviewed each truck owner and, one by one, discounted each vehicle, Thompson said.
But police could not discount the truck purchased Jan. 8 by Terlap, he said.
Police also uncovered surveillance video at a gas station showing Terlap filling up his tank moments before the accident took place, Thompson said.
Police contacted the original owner of the Ford Explorer, and he was able to identify Terlap as the buyer, Thompson said.
From there, investigators discovered Terlap quit his job suddenly Feb. 11 and, Thompson said, fled to his sister's house in Virginia.
Working with police officials in Virginia, officials seized Terlap's vehicle, which he left behind before fleeing again.
A warrant was issued for Terlap after the parts obtained in the accident matched with the seized vehicle.
"I want to commend the tireless efforts of Lt. John Jonsky, Sgt. Ed Haras and Deputy John Vinson with this investigation," Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said. "This was police work at its finest."