A man who was just released weeks ago from prison for the drug-induced homicide of his girlfriend in 2019 has been found dead in Crystal Lake, officials said.
McHenry County Coroner Dr. Michael Rein said Jeffrey J. Hauck, 39, of Crystal Lake, was found dead last Thursday in Crystal Lake.
An autopsy was performed on Hauck by the McHenry County Coroner’s Office on Friday.
Toxicology results are pending and the coroner declined to say where Hauck was found or whether there were any signs of trauma on his body.
“Only thing I can say at this time is that his death is under investigation,” Rein told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Hauck was sentenced to nine years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in November 2019.
He was found guilty of drug-induced homicide following a bench trial before McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt in September 2019.
“His actions led to a death, and he has to pay for that death. He will do so by spending nine years zero months in the Illinois Department of Corrections,” Wilbrandt said during the sentencing hearing.
The conviction stemmed from the death of Hauck’s girlfriend, Stephanie Phillippi, 32, who was found unresponsive in her bedroom in Crystal Lake and pronounced dead on March 6, 2019, after ingesting heroin and fentanyl, prosecutors said.
The Crystal Lake Police Department learned that Hauck had traveled to Chicago to purchase bags of heroin that contained fentanyl.
Hauck brought those bags back to Crystal Lake and delivered them to another person who eventually gave the drugs to Phillippi, prosecutors said.
Melissa Ohlson, of Woodstock, and Kane E. Kellet, of Crystal Lake, were also convicted in connection with Phillippi’s death.
Hauck had appealed his conviction but the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s ruling in April 2022.
Hauck served five years in Vienna Correctional Center before being paroled on December 6.