WAUKEGAN, Ill. (WGN) — More than 48 hours after a 36-year-old pregnant woman was killed in a hit-and-run in Waukegan, her fiancé says he still hoped police would find the driver responsible.
Tuesday evening, police charged 49-year-old Rosalinda Vaca of Waukegan with a felony for leaving the scene of an accident.
Charlie Walkanoff, the victim’s fiancé, described the moment his fiancée, Michelle Heidbrick of Mundelein, was struck. “All I heard was a smack. Next thing I knew, she’s rolling down the street. They hit my baby so hard. I was trying to yell to get people to call 911, and someone stopped, and they did,” he said.
Just before 9:35 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21, Waukegan police and firefighters responded to Grand Avenue and Jackson Street for a reported vehicle crash involving a pedestrian. Investigators said Heidbrick was crossing the street when an unknown car hit her and fled. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital from blunt force trauma-related injuries, and her unborn child also died.
Heidbrick leaves behind an 18-year-old son who recently started college. It is unclear whether surveillance video captured the incident.
Break in the Case
Waukegan Police Department’s Major Crash Unit located a witness who said Heidbrick was crossing the southbound roadway of Grand Avenue when the vehicle struck her and fled. Police later identified the suspect vehicle and driver, Vaca. Vaca told police she was driving a black 2016 Land Rover SUV and hit something in the roadway without realizing what it was. She surrendered after learning a woman had been killed in the crash. Authorities later recovered the vehicle.
Vaca remains jailed pending her initial court hearing.
Walkanoff has pleaded for witnesses to come forward. “If anybody saw anything, please, please say something because my baby didn’t deserve to die that way,” he said.
Heidbrick’s parents told WGN-TV they are “absolutely heartbroken” by the loss of their daughter.
A GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral expenses has raised more than $3,000.
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