Lake Villa Township teen charged in fatal June hit-and-run crash
A Lake Villa Township teen has been charged in a June hit-and-run crash that killed an Antioch man, authorities said Friday.
Abby C. Hansen, 18, of the 37000 block of North Hillside Drive, was indicted Sept. 12 by a Lake County grand jury on one felony count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, authorities said. If found guilty at trial, she could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison.
A $75,000 warrant was issued for her arrest, but the warrant was stayed pending her appearance at a Sept. 26 arraignment, authorities said. At the hearing, she pleaded not guilty and was released from custody on a $75,000 signature bond.
She is due back in court Nov. 27.
Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Christopher Covelli said Hansen was 17 at the time of the June 9 crash but is charged as an adult.
Authorities were called to West Grass Lake Road and North Sunset Drive in Lake Villa about 9:30 p.m. for a report of a crash involving an adult pedestrian.
Deputies found a critically injured man on the north shoulder of Grass Lake Road about 500 feet east of Sunset Drive. The man - later identified by the Lake County coroner's office as 52-year-old Brett M. Beckett - was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where he later was pronounced dead.
The driver of the vehicle that struck the man had fled the scene before deputies arrived, authorities said.
Several days later and after an extensive investigation by the Lake County sheriff's office, a deputy found a 2012 Suzuki Grand Vitara at an Antioch body shop with damage consistent with striking a pedestrian, Covelli said. The vehicle was seized and taken to a secure evidence storage facility for processing.
"Investigators backtracked the vehicle to the residence and learned Abby Hansen was driving the vehicle," Covelli said. "The owners of the vehicle did not notify the sheriff's office that the vehicle was damaged and at a body shop. It was located by an alert deputy on the look out for a vehicle matching the description of the Suzuki."
Covelli said the case remains under investigation.