First-degree murder charge added in fatal boating crash on Fox River in McHenry
A Lisle man who has been jailed in connection with a fatal boating collision July 25 on the Fox River in McHenry has been charged with first-degree murder.
A McHenry County grand jury Thursday returned a nine-count indictment against Richard M. Stevenson, 45, with four additional charges each of aggravated driving under the influence and operating a watercraft under the influence.
Stevenson pleaded not guilty to all counts in a brief appearance Friday morning in McHenry County Circuit Court. A conviction on first-degree murder carries a 20- to 60-year prison term although that could be extended from 60 to 100 years. Either would have to be served in its entirety.
The first-degree murder charge as listed in the indictment said Stevenson operated his boat in a manner and location “knowing that such acts created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm” to an individual.
Magdalena Jablonska, 48, a Marine veteran from Des Plaines, was killed and her fiance, Alan Telmini, also from Des Plaines, was injured when Stevenson’s boat collided with theirs in a no-wake zone. He was traveling about 80 mph at the time, prosecutors said.
Authorities said Stevenson was intoxicated and driving “in a reckless and dangerous manner” at the time of the crash. He initially was charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing death and one count of reckless homicide.
Charges outlined in the indictment for the first time noted that besides alcohol, Stevenson had cocaine and THC in his system at the time of the crash.
One of grand jury’s aggravated driving under the influence charges alleged Stevenson was under the combined influence of alcohol and cocaine and THC “to a degree that rendered the defendant incapable of safely driving,” and leading to the crash that resulted in Jablonska’s death.
In a news release Friday, McHenry County State's Attorney Randi L. Freese said the new charges followed “an extensive and continuing investigation,” by state Conservation Police with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Jablonska and Telmini were heading north on the Fox River that Saturday afternoon and had slowed to enter a no-wake zone near the McHenry Dam. Authorities allege Stevenson was driving a 31-foot South Bay pontoon boat equipped with three, 500-horsepower engines traveling up to 80 mph when it went up and over the smaller boat from behind, decapitating Jablonska.
The aggravated driving under the influence and operating watercraft under the influence charges are Class 2 felonies each carrying a 3- to 14-year prison sentence on conviction.
Stevenson has been ordered held in jail while awaiting trial. Sept. 23 is the next scheduled court hearing.
In a separate action, a wrongful-death lawsuit was filed Aug. 5 in McHenry County Circuit Court on behalf of Telmini and Jablonska’s estate.
Shortly after the crash, Jablonska’s brother, Marcin Jablonski, started a GoFundMe page in support of a dog shelter in his sister’s memory. Donations, now paused, raised $30,800 for that cause.
mzawislak@dailyherald.com