Police have arrested a mother and her teenage son after they and a third gunman allegedly opened fire on a car and killed 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; Torsheill Hibbler, 37, of Round Lake Beach; and Tyrone Hoy, 17, of Round Lake Beach, were charged on September 25 with three counts of first-degree murder.
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, identified as Hibbler and Hoy, also began opening fire on the Toyota from inside the Ford, Shepherd said.
The Ford was registered to Hibbler. Police were familiar with her and Hoy from a separate investigation where Hoy, who is the woman’s son, was shot at a party in August.
Shepherd said that investigators believe the suspects misidentified the car Novoa-Poveda was inside.
Hoy believed it was the same car that shot at him in August and Hoy, White and Hibbler were seeking retaliation for that shooting when they killed Novoa-Poveda, Shepherd said.
Shepherd called Novoa-Poveda an “innocent woman” who was killed in the middle of a residential street while on the way home from work.
Waukegan Deputy Police Chief Scott Chastain said investigators soon after the homicide recovered the 2009 Ford Crown Victoria at Hibbler’s home in the 1000 block of Red Oak Circle in Round Lake Beach.
Detectives set up surveillance and executed search warrants for the vehicle, residence and garage. The Ford had bullet holes in it.
Detectives also located a semi-automatic handgun and a large amount of drugs — 714 grams of substances that field tested positive for cocaine.
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.
During a detention hearing last week for White, 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 the detention hearing.
“This shooting is a horrific act of violence that ended a life of an innocent person, who had no known connections to the offenders. The offenders open fired on a vehicle with multiple occupants inside,” Chastain said Wednesday.
“It’s a miracle that the other two occupants were not struck with the numerous rounds that were fired,” he added.
Arrest warrants were issued following charges being filed on September 25 and White was the first arrested. He was taken into custody on October 9 in the 10000 block of Wallace in Chicago, Chastain said.
The Waukegan Police Department announced Wednesday they had captured Hibbler and Hoy at an apartment in the 6000 block of Derby Drive in Gurnee on Monday.
Chastain said detectives following up on leads led them to the apartment where they believed the mother and son were hiding out.
Contact was made with an apartment resident who helped coordinate the surrender of Hibbler and Hoy.
Both were taken into custody without incident. Chastain said a search warrant was executed on the apartment, which led to the recovery of additional evidence in the case.
In addition to the murder charges, Hibbler was also charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver between 400-900 grams and unlawful possession of a controlled substance between 400-900 grams.
Hoy, who was charged as an adult, and Hibbler are scheduled to appear for detention hearings on Thursday afternoon.