South Elgin police misplace evidence in DUI homicide
South Elgin police can't find a key piece of evidence for DUI and reckless homicide charges pending against a St. Charles teen involved in a deadly crash last year, the police chief and the defendant's attorney said Wednesday.
The missing evidence is a blood sample taken from Erika N. Scoliere, 19, in the hours after the July 13, 2007, accident which killed a 40-year-old finance executive from South Elgin, Police Chief Chris Merritt said.
Merritt said the sample - purported to prove Scoliere was driving drunk the night of the crash - went missing about a month ago, and an internal investigation into the disappearance is ongoing.
"Nobody's happy about it, especially me," Merritt told the Daily Herald. "We're doing what we can to find out what happened to it. It doesn't appear that there was anything done purposefully."
Scoliere's attorney, Sarah Toney, said she learned of the sample's disappearance on Wednesday and intends to file a supplemental motion to suppress the evidence. She already had asked the sample be found inadmissible because of "medical issues" related to when and how the blood was drawn.
"We have our own issues with the blood, but we're adding the fact that they didn't preserve the evidence as a reason the blood should not be admissible at trial," Toney said. "In this case, there are multiple issues with the blood draw, not the least of which is it has gone missing."
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Steve Sims, chief of the DUI and traffic divisions, did not return a phone message seeking comment.
According to police, Scoliere's blood was drawn at a hospital about three hours after the 11:29 p.m. crash at Randall and Silver Glen roads. She was allowed to ride to the hospital with her parents, which angered relatives of Frank Ferraro, who died after his motorcycle crashed into Scoliere's 2003 Ford Escape when it turned in front of him.
Authorities have said the sample showed Scoliere's blood-alcohol concentration exceeded the 0.08 threshold for drivers of legal drinking age, but they have not disclosed an exact figure.
On Wednesday, Merritt said the evidence was delivered several months ago to South Elgin village hall, which shares a common area with the police station. A village hall employee signed for the package, he said, but it hasn't been seen since.
The chief said it's possible the evidence was filed away incorrectly, though thorough searches of the department and village offices failed to turn up anything. The lack of evidence means defense attorneys are unable to independently examine or test it themselves.
Merritt noted that the blood sample was appropriately tested tested and documented by the state crime lab.
"The results are the results," he said. "I don't think anybody's denying that."