A drunk Illinois boater with a history of driving under the influence decapitated a woman after he crashed into her boat while going 80 miles per hour over the weekend, prosecutors said.
Richard Stevenson, 45, allegedly smashed his 31-foot pontoon into the back of another smaller boat in a no-wake zone at high speeds, killing a 48-year-old woman and injuring her husband after a day of heavy drinking on the Fox River in Illinois Saturday, according to the McHenry County State Attorney’s Office.
The unidentified woman was decapitated and was declared dead at the scene, prosecutors revealed at Stevenson’s hearing on Monday, where a judge ordered he remain in custody ahead of his trial, ABC7 Chicago reported.
“This man was a ticking time-bomb and that bomb went off this past Saturday on the Fox River,” Deputy Chief Brian Miller argued at Stevenson’s detention hearing.
Stevenson was found standing near the pontoon boat along the treeline when police arrived. He was taken to Northwestern Hospital in McHenry, where tests revealed a blood alcohol concentration of approximately .200 — two and a half times the legal driving limit.
Two other passengers of the pontoon boat had left by the time cops showed up.
Multiple witnesses told investigators that Stevenson had been drinking throughout the day, and surveillance video shows him zipping the watercraft at extremely high rates of speed on both the Fox River and adjoining Chain O’Lakes leading up to the crash, which occurred around 2:30 p.m. Saturday in McHenry.
Prosecutors said he was going as fast as 80 miles per hour when he plowed over the 20-foot Crownline, prosecutors said.
Stevenson was arrested and charged with reckless homicide and two counts of aggravated driving under the influence.
Stevenson had been charged with drunk driving on three previous occasions, as well as reckless driving three times, and has four misdemeanor speeding offenses, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Stevenson is due to appear in court next on Aug. 5.
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