Gurnee police say jogger wasn't attacked; charges not likely

Gurnee police say they don't anticipate criminal charges against a woman who made up a story about being attacked while jogging Sunday afternoon near Woodland Middle School.

Police Cmdr. Jay Patrick said a witness who came forward with information helped investigators determine the 41-year-old woman's injuries weren't the result of any criminal act. He did not specify when the witness spoke to police.

"Let's just suffice it to say it didn't happen the way she said it did," Patrick said Wednesday.

Criminal charges against the married Gurnee woman are not expected, authorities said. Patrick said no details would be released to the public on what the witness told police and how investigators concluded the attack report was phony.

Gurnee cops were informed about the now-bogus attack by emergency room staff at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, where the woman drove herself for treatment for a concussion, abrasions and a sprained ankle.

In her false version of the attack, the woman told police she was jogging south on a sidewalk on Almond Road, in front of the middle school on Gurnee's west side, when she passed a man headed in the opposite direction about 12:15 p.m.

Right after the man passed, he grabbed her from behind and pushed her to the ground. He then demanded money and that she take him to her house, the woman told police.

After telling the suspect she lived a couple miles away and had no cash, the man became angry, shoved her head onto the ground and stated he'd kill her if she called police, according to her statement. The man fled in an unknown direction.

Patrick said the attack would have occurred while a youth softball tournament was going on at the nearby Warren Township complex at Almond Road and Washington Street.

The woman told police she went home but didn't call 911. Instead, she drove about 14 miles east to the hospital in Lake Forest and told emergency room staffers what had occurred, prompting them to call Gurnee police at 4:21 p.m. Sunday.

Gurnee police went to Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital to interview the woman after receiving the ER call.

"When the report was made, obviously we took it at face value and had to investigate," Patrick said.

Police said the woman provided a description of the fictional attacker. She claimed he was a white man in his late 20s, about 6-feet-2, thin build, sandy hair, green eyes and wearing shorts, but no shirt.