‘Hearts permanently broken’: Driver in DUI crash that killed Island Lake man sentenced; family tells of grief

Before a packed courtroom in McHenry County Thursday, friends and family of a 24-year-old Island Lake man killed in 2024 by a drunk driver spoke of the light and love he brought to their lives.

Nearly all present, as well as defendant Christine Eilers, 51, cried throughout the two-hour hearing, at which she was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Eilers of McHenry was accused of being drunk when she fatally struck Austin Stanek of Island Lake while he was walking with friends in 2024. She was also accused of fleeing the scene and trying to hide her car.

Under a negotiated plea deal, Eilers pleaded guilty to felony failure to report a crash causing a death and felony aggravated driving under the influence involving a crash causing death.

She was sentenced to seven years on each count, to be served consecutively. With credit for time served and truth-in-sentencing laws, the actual prison time will be about 9½ years, followed by two years of mandatory supervised release.

Assistant State’s Attorney William Bruce told Judge Tiffany Davis that had the case gone to trial, jurors would have heard that at 10:48 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2024, Stanek was walking with three friends along Roberts Road in Island Lake. As they approached Timber Trail, Eilers, driving a white Nissan Murano, struck Stanek and fled the area.

Bruce said Stanek was taken to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital near Barrington, where he was pronounced dead.

Eilers drove her damaged vehicle to her boyfriend’s home in Lakemoor, authorities said. She hid her car, covered with a tarp, in his garage, Bruce said.

Police found the car Oct. 2.

An expert determined Eilers’ blood alcohol content level at the time she hit Stanek to be between .24 and .37 — “a severe state of intoxication,” Bruce said, citing the expert.

Several friends and family members of Stanek — many wearing T-shirts that said “Be Like Austin,” the name of a scholarship fund his family has established in his memory — tearfully read impact statements from the witness stand.

They spoke of how much they loved Stanek and of the love, light and compassion he brought into their lives.

Stanek’s aunt, Roxana D’Ascanio, said his death was “the most tragic and devastating thing to happen to our family.”

She described Stanek, a Wauconda High graduate, as the “youngest, brightest light in our family. … Our hearts are permanently broken.”

Stanek’s mother, Carrie Stanek, wept as she read her statement with her husband, Paul Stanek, Austin’s father, standing beside her. She started by saying that although he was 24 years old, “he was my child, my baby.”

The day he died was the worst day of her life, and she suffers with anxiety; she can’t sleep through the night and can no longer work at her job, where she worked with children for 30 years.

She, like others who spoke, said she cannot go by the place where he was killed. She has anxiety when driving and is fearful when others she loves, including her husband and son, Paul Stanek, drive anywhere.

Carrie Stanek said her son was “great at whatever he set his mind to,” including baseball, volleyball and basketball. He loved his family and friends. He will never get to be an uncle to Paul’s children or “get the chance to love a family of his own.”

“I miss Austin every single day,” she said. “Every day is heart-wrenching … when I realize Austin is never coming home.”

Eilers gave an emotional statement, weeping as she apologized and acknowledged what she did.

She admitted she was drunk that night and that she should not have been driving. She also said it was not the first time she drove drunk. But she also stated she would never drink and drive again.

“I am the one that caused so much hurt. I am the one that caused so much pain. I am the one that caused so much suffering,” said Eilers, adding she has thought about Austin’s friends and family every day since that night.

“From the depths of my soul, I am so sorry,” she said. “I was sorry yesterday. I (will be) sorry tomorrow. I will be sorry the rest of my life.”