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37-Year-Old Arrested In Hit And Run That Killed Pregnant Mother

Posted: 11:14 am EDT July 7, 2008Updated: 5:43 pm EDT July 7, 2008

Police arrested a 37-year-old woman early Monday in connection with a fatal hit and run that killed a pregnant woman. New details released Monday reveal she was passing a truck along the shoulder of US-27 when she struck the 34-year-old mother of three.


ARREST AFFIDAVIT: Read Details On Arrest Of Lisa Reilly (PDF)
SLIDESHOW: Images Of Vehicle, Suspect In Fatal Hit And Run
RAW SURVEILLANCE: Suspect Pulls Into Gas Station | Suspect At Pump

It was still light outside the evening of July 2 when, deputies said, Reilly went off US-27 near Polo Park Boulevard (see map) and struck and killed 34-year-old Jennifer Prokop. Prokop wasn't even on the roadway when she was struck and killed.

According to the arrest affidavit, a witness driving a tractor trailer was passed on the right side along the grass shoulder of US-27 by Reilly, whose 2003 XLT Ford Explorer struck Prokop. The pregnant victim and mother of three was thrown 70 feet and died at the scene.

Jennifer Prokop

Investigators have no doubt Reilly knew what she did. She was immediately confronted at a nearby Kangaroo gas station by the tractor trailer driver, who told her she had hit a person. Reilly denied it, deputies said, suggesting it was another red SUV and not the one she was driving.

Surveillance images at the gas station show Reilly pull into the parking area before moving her car to a pump. She is then seen being confronted by the tractor trailer driver before she leaves the scene. The tractor trailer driver was able to give deputies a tag, but it didn't match anything in their system. However, according to the arrest affidavit, variations of the tag revealed a car registered to Paul Reilly in Davenport, less then five miles from the scene.

Deputies said they made contact with Paul Reilly and were allowed to observe the suspected vehicle in the garage at his home on Cordova Avenue. The vehicle had multiple areas of damage in line with the suspected incident. Paul Reilly told deputies that his wife Lisa told him she had hit a truck.

"She parked the car and told her husband she hit a tractor trailer," said Sheriff Grady Judd, Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Lisa Reilly was arrested by deputies early Monday morning. She told deputies that she didn't know she hit the pregnant woman and instead believed she had struck the tractor trailer.

Late Monday afternoon Eyewitness News spoke with Prokop's mother Alana in Wisconsin via telephone about the arrest.

"She should have turned herself in. To hide that many days, she didn't turn herself in, they found her on a tip," she said.

Reilly is charged with leaving the scene of a crash with a fatality and is being held on no bond. According to the arrest affidavit, she's a custodian for Disney World.

It's not Reilly's first brush with the law, either. She was arrested in May on a charge of domestic violence. According to the sheriff's office, she offered a deputy $100 and a sexual favor to let her go.

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