IL Man Ran Over, Killed Wife After Drunken Night Out: Police

BELLEVILLE, IL — An Illinois man is charged with aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death after police say he fatally hit his wife with their truck, not realizing she was lying down in their driveway after a night of drinking. Police told the Belleville News-Democrat that Jonathan E. Whitwell and his wife Stephanie M. Whitwell, both 36, took a ride-share service to their St. Clair County home early Saturday after a night out.

Police believe Stephanie Whitwell apparently decided to lie down in the driveway while her husband went into the house. A short time later, Jonathan Whitwell could not find his wife, so he left the home in his 2004 GMC pickup truck to look for her, according to the News-Democrat.

Whitwell did not hit his wife as he backed out of the driveway, but drove over her when he returned home, the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Stephanie Whitwell was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

“They were doing the right thing in that they (initially) weren’t driving,” Capt. Bruce Fleshren, St. Clair County Sheriff's Office chief of investigations, told the Belleville News-Democrat. “It shows that in any situation, when you get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol, which we believed played a large factor in this event, anything bad that will, can go wrong.”

Whitwell has no prior criminal record in St. Clair County, aside from two speeding tickets, one of which was dismissed.

The sheriff's office said there is no indication of previous domestic issues involving the couple, calling the death "an alcohol-related tragedy for this family," according to the News-Democrat.

Jonathan Whitwell was released from the St. Clair County Jail after posting $50,000 bond.

The sheriff's office said the charges against Whitwell could be upgraded to reckless homicide, and that he faces a sentence of three to 14 years in prison if convicted, according to the Daily Beast.