Mayor: Worth Teen's Death Investigation Fueled by 'Misinformation'

Mayor Mary Werner says she feels the pain of Brittany Wawrzyniak’s family. Two weeks after Brittany’s family and 150 supporters packed the Terrace Park fieldhouse in an angry confrontation with the Worth Village Board, Werner said the investigation remains active and “has not been put on a shelf.”

“My granddaughter is good friends with Brittany’s sister, she went to Brittany’s wake. I feel horrible for the family,” Werner said. “In the beginning a lot of the information was truthful. Some of her friends were there and gave statements to the police. They cooperated. Now it has morphed into something quite different.”

Wawrzyniak is the 18-year-old woman who was ejected from a car in the parking lot at a public boat launch on Nov. 8, 2013. Her family has accused Worth Police of botching the death investigation, that police won’t answer their questions or follow up on leads that Brittany may have been pushed out of the car.

The same supporters plan to march to the village board’s meeting on Tuesday. Brittany’s day, Patrick Wawrzyniak, vowed that they will “shut down 111th Street” in front of Worth Village Hall.

From day one, Mayor Werner claims, Worth Police have said that Brittany Wawrzyniak arranged a fake drug deal with a young man and young woman, so that Brittany’s friend and the other girl could fight. At some point during the fake drug deal, Brittany was ejected from the couple’s car and killed when her head struck the pavement.

The driver, Eric Johnson, 21, of Midlothian, was arrested a few days later on a felony charge of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. Brittany’s mom alleges that Johnson sent taunting texts to her daughter’s cell phone while she lay dying at Christ Hospital.

During Johnson’s bond hearing, Cook County prosecutors termed Wawrzyniak’s death “a drug deal gone bad.” Brittany is alleged to have paid Johnson $200 for a prescription clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication.

Johnson has not been charged with anything related to Brittany’s death.