Carlos Hernandez, now 53, has remained in the Will County Jail since December 2022 under the old cash-bail system. His bail was $1 million, but the homeless defendant could not come up with $100,000 to regain his freedom. (2023 mugshot via Will County Jail)
JOLIET, IL — It's been nearly four years since Steven Spangler, a 60-year-old Joliet homeless man who grew up in Minooka, was run over by two freight trains in the middle of the night in downtown Joliet along the Metra tracks. On Thursday morning, the man responsible for ending Spangler's life, 53-year-old Carlos Hernandez was returned to the Will County Courthouse to plead guilty and learn his sentence.
Will County Courthouse records indicate that Hernandez accepted responsibility for his actions and pleaded guilty to his most serious charge, first-degree murder. As part of the plea bargain, his second and third charges, aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated battery causing serious bodily injury, were dropped.
State's Attorney's Office spokeswoman Kelly O'Brien indicated that Hernandez must serve out his 20-year prison term at 100 percent time. Three victim impact statements were given during Thursday's sentencing hearing in Courtroom 501.
Will County Judge Sarah Jones then sentenced Hernandez to 20 years of prison time at the Illinois Department of Corrections. Hernandez is getting credit for some time already served in the Will County jail: a total of 1,359 days.
Spangler's death in late October 2022 was investigated by the Metra Police Department. That Dec. 7 — six weeks after Spangler was run over by two different freight trains — Hernandez was booked into the Will County jail on first-degree murders. His bail remained $1 million, and he has remained in the Will County Jail ever since, while awaiting trial.
Back on Oct. 27, 2022, Joliet Patch reported that Spangler was killed by two different trains and may have been pushed into the tracks. Authorities have said that Spangler was struck by a freight train at 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2022, and then hit by a second train that was unable to stop in time.
Minutes before Spangler was shoved off the Metra platform, Spangler and the criminal defendant were having a conversation about jumping on one of the overnight freight trains passing through Joliet, the Metra police reports show.
According to his obituary, Spangler graduated from Minooka Community High School and was formerly employed at Buy Rite Furniture in Joliet for several years.
"Although like many of us, he had his flaws, but he will be most remembered by his family and friends as a kind-hearted soul who would give you the shirt off his back," stated Spangler's obituary from Joliet's Fred C. Dames Funeral Home.
Closed-circuit video cameras along the downtown Joliet Metra train tracks and interviews with eyewitnesses helped Metra's Police Department determine that Steven Spangler's death was a homicide, police reports obtained by Joliet Patch revealed.
Trains Halted After Authorities Find Dead Person On Tracks
When first-degree murder defendant Carlos Hernandez took his most recent mugshot in May 2025, he chose to look more serious. Mugshot via Will County jail
Even though Spangler was not killed by any Metra passenger trains, the Metra Police Department spearheaded the investigation into Spangler's death instead of the Joliet Police Department because Spangler died at the Metra tracks along Eastern Avenue.
According to the preliminary investigation:
At 3:47 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2022, a Metra police officer was sent to the Joliet Metra Rock Island Station at 90 East Jefferson Street in downtown Joliet for a train that struck a pedestrian at milepost 40.10.
The Joliet Police Department and Joliet Fire Department arrived one minute later, and all trains were later stopped based on the location of the dead person.
Spangler was hit by a northbound freight train at 3:36 a.m. There were closed-circuit video cameras at the Metra train station platform warming shelters, east and west side, and Joliet Police had video footage available.
Train dispatch logs determined that a CSX freight train went by first, and then an Iowa Interstate Railroad freight train hit the victim.
Joliet Police Find 2 Eyewitnesses for Metra Police To Interview
In October 2022, Steven Spangler, 60, was found dead on Joliet's Metra train tracks on the other side of this photo, along Eastern Avenue. Carlos Hernandez, a 49-year-old homeless man, faced first-degree murder charges. File John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor
By 4:02 a.m., another Metra Police officer arrived and declared, "this was possibly a homicide."
By 4:08 a.m., a Metra police sergeant called for detectives.
At 4:11 a.m. Metra police saw the Iowa Interstate freight train on the mainline and the unknown man lying on the mainline track's north outer train. The victim wore a blue jacket, a red shirt, gray jogging pants, white gym shoes with black strips and multi-colored soles.
Police found a metal grocery store shopping cart in the warming shelter next to the death scene. The shopping cart contained a case of Old Style beer cans and plastic garbage bags full of clothes.
Meanwhile, three Joliet police officers found two eyewitnesses for Metra police to interview. The first witness arrived at the train station platform warming shelter on Eastern Avenue to catch the Metra 420 train to Chicago after leaving downtown Joliet's Harrah's Casino.
According to the witness, who remembered sitting on the platform bench, Spangler was sitting by his shopping cart on the bench as well as playing music, talking and joking about jumping on the train with the person who killed him.
When Spangler said he would not jump on the approaching freight train and returned to sit down at the platform, the suspect told Spangler to jump, and he's going to time it.
Spangler stood up and told the suspect, "to cut that out."
According to the witness, the suspect used both arms and open hands to push Spangler toward the freight train.
The witness saw Spangler stumble on the track, fall and the CSX train struck him.
The witness told Metra police he had worked security in the past and saw the suspect flee the platform going west and then down the stairwell leading to Mayor Art Schultz Drive.
Metra police interviewed the engineer of the Iowa Interstate Railroad freight train, which was 138 train cars long. Between 3:58 a.m. and 4 a.m., the train engineer saw flashlights on the Metra depot, five car lengths away. When he got close, he saw a decapitated body and applied the brakes to stop his train, calling railroad dispatch at 4 a.m.
Meanwhile, Metra police investigating Spangler's slaying found another potential eyewitness inside the Joliet Gateway building on Art Schultz Drive. "Hutter informed me that he arrived at the Joliet Metra Rock Island Station around sunset and was sleeping at the warming shelter at the west platform and covered his head with his sleeping bag."
The Metra police report noted that "Hutter had a hard time speaking due to not having any teeth and spoke in a low tone." Hutter relayed he saw a man he didn't know, wearing a gray sweatshirt with the hood upon his head, and the man looked like "Guilty."
"I asked Hutter what 'guilty' was, and Hutter stated that the man looked like he was trying to avoid looking at him and had his head down. The man went down the stairs to Mayor Art Schultz Drive. Hutter stated he said nothing to him or each other, and five minutes later the fire department arrived."
At 7:08 a.m., Metra police identified the victim as Spangler, and the Will County Coroner's office removed his body at 7:25 a.m.
By 9 a.m., two Metra officers were assigned to conduct a search for the homicide suspect in the area of Washington Street and Eastern Avenue.
"Metra Police body cameras were activated for this incident," noted the first responding officer's incident