Crime & Safety

Hit-and-Run Victim's Family Settles Wrongful Death Suit

The death of Melissa Lech in August 2008 remained unsolved until David McCarthy came forward last year and confessed to hitting her with his car, according to police reports.

By Karen Sorensen 

The mother of a Joliet woman killed in a hit-and-run accident nearly five years ago will receive a quarter of a million dollars from a Naperville man who confessed to crime last year.

Maria Lech and her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against David McCarthy IV, 28, of Naperville, who told police he was responsible for striking Melissa Lech, a Plainfield South High School graduate, as she walked along the 2800 block of McDonough Street after leaving a bar in August 2008. Lech was a 20-year-old University of Illinois college student.

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Maria Lech signed the lawsuit settlement on May 31, which will award her family $250,000, according to a story in the Naperville Sun. After attorney fees are paid, they will have about $170,000, the story said.

The crime remained unsolved until February 2012, when McCarthy went to the home of Lech's sister and confessed to the accident in which Melissa Lech was killed. McCarthy was subsequently arrested and charged with hit-and-run and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death; he remains in Will County jail in lieu of $1 million bond. 

McCarthy's next court hearing is June 27, according to the Sun story.


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