A judge denied pre-trial release to a man charged after three gunmen opened fire on a car, killing an “innocent woman” on her way home from work in Waukegan, in a case of mistaken identity.
The Waukegan Police Department and Waukegan Fire Department responded around 1:10 a.m. on September 17 to the area of Elmwood Avenue and Melrose Avenue in Waukegan for a report of a shooting.
Officers arrived and found a woman shot inside a black Toyota Corolla, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Shepherd said.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek identified the victim as Yessenia Novoa-Poveda, 48, of Waukegan.
Novoa-Poveda was transported by ambulance to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan.
She was pronounced dead in the emergency room after arriving at the hospital, Banek said.
Shepherd said two other people were in the car with Novoa-Poveda at the time of the shooting and were uninjured.
The three had been carpooling home together from work, Shepherd said.
An autopsy was conducted on Novoa-Poveda and Banek said the results showed that Novoa-Poveda died from a gunshot wound to the back.
Court records show Johnathan D. White, 20, of Zion, was charged on September 25 with three counts of first-degree murder.
An arrest warrant was issued and White was taken into custody on October 9 in Chicago.
Shepherd said video surveillance showed a passenger, later identified as White, exit a black Ford Crown Victoria with white doors and open fire on the Toyota Corolla, which had stopped at the intersection.
Two other occupants of the Ford also began opening fire on the Toyota from inside the Ford.
The Ford was registered to a woman, who police were familiar with her and her son from a separate investigation where the son was shot at a party in August.
Shepherd said that investigators believe the suspects misidentified the car Novoa-Poveda was inside.
One of the suspects believed it was the same car that shot at him in August and the three suspects were seeking retaliation for that shooting when they killed Novoa-Poveda.
Shepherd called Novoa-Poveda an “innocent woman” who was killed in the middle of a residential street while on the way home from work.
Investigators later recovered the Ford suspect vehicle and executed search warrants shortly after the murder, at which time they located five people, including two of the murder suspects.
A handgun and a large amount of drugs — 714 grams of substances — were recovered.
After White’s arrest in Chicago, he admitted his involvement in the murder and identified himself in surveillance photos, Shepherd said.
An obituary for Novoa-Poveda said she enjoyed being home with her family and was always attentive to their care.
She migrated to Waukegan just months prior to her death with the dream of a better future for her son, her obituary said.
Shepherd argued that White committed a pre-meditated murder riding around with his friends, his friend’s mother and other armed individuals “apparently looking to kill someone” out of revenge.
“There is no greater threat to the community than the taking of an innocent human life. And here the defendant did so without remorse,” Shepherd said.
The prosecutor said that the saddest part of the case was that Novoa-Poveda was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted a petition to detain White pending trial following a detention hearing held Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators have identified the two other suspects and obtained warrants charging them with first-degree murder. They are not in the custody of the Lake County Jail yet.