Al Perez has spent the last six months installing billboards, passing out fliers and looking for answers to the Interstate 88 hit-and-run that stole his teenage son.
Emilio Perez, 17, of Villa Park, was struck around 7:20 p.m. March 8 as he was walking in the westbound lane of I-88 at mile marker 6 near Joslin. His vehicle, which had run out of gas, was found about half a mile from where he died of a traumatic neck injury.
No one came forward to take responsibility for the accident. Months dragged on without a suspect until Friday, when a Crime Stoppers tip led police to a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe and the arrest of its owner, Maria E. Romero, 41, of Rockford.
“We located a vehicle registered to Maria that had damage consistent with the evidence we found at the scene. We were able to locate her and talk to her,” said Master Sgt. Christopher Endress of the Illinois State Police.
He declined to disclose what she told officers, but said police were able to establish that she was driving the Tahoe and was involved in the crash with Emilio. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor, he said.
Arrested Tuesday night in Winnebago County, Ms. Romero was brought Wednesday to Rock Island County to face felony counts of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving death and failure to report the accident.
Charges allege she “knowingly failed to stop the vehicle she was driving” after hitting Emilio and that she drove off without alerting authorities within 30 minutes of the incident.
Police spent Wednesday processing Ms. Romero’s vehicle. She remained in custody on a $250,000 bond with her arraignment expected today. If convicted of both counts — Class 1 and a Class 4 felonies — she faces up to 18 years in prison.
Emilio was an honors student, an athlete and a friend to many, his parents said. The family has speculated that he came to the Quad-Cities on March 8 to visit friends or look into buying a car he had been saving for.
A Facebook page entitled “Remembering Emilio” was flooded Wednesday with comments expressing relief at the arrest. A status posted to the page late Wednesday afternoon stated, “We want to thank all of you who prayed , shared and cared at long last this person has been found and arrested …. It is a bitter sweet day but we are very grateful.”
The Perez family expressed “obvious relief” when notified Tuesday night, Sgt. Endress said.
“I give credit to Al Perez for pushing us,” Sgt. Endress said. “What people don’t know is, he was coming out to the Quad-Cities every weekend.”
Sgt. Endress said Mr. Perez attended the Bix and other major Quad-Cities events, handing out fliers and talking to people about his son. Billboards in Moline, East Moline and Davenport — coupled with a reward and “Al’s relentless pursuit seeking information” — all helped lead to the Crime Stoppers tip, Sgt. Endress said.
Mr. Perez is expected to make a statement Thursday morning at Illinois State Police District 7, East Moline, headquarters. At a May news conference, he said he wasn’t looking for someone to blame.
“I just need to know why,” he said. “It is time for this person to take responsibility for what happened.”
A $10,000 reward was offered by Crime Stoppers and the Perez family. On Wednesday, Moline Police Detective Scott Williams said it would be up to Crime Stoppers’ Board of Directors to appropriate the money.
As the Crime Stoppers’ coordinator, Detective Williams said he planned to discuss the tip at the board’s monthly meeting on Monday and recommend giving the reward money to the person whose information lead to Ms. Romero’s arrest.
“This case was obviously very important to us and we’re glad to see some process here,” Sgt. Endress said.
“We’ve been saying all along — ‘we’re just one phone call from solving this case,'” he said. “And we were right.”
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