SWAT officers with the Lake County Sheriff's Office arrested 21-year-old Eduardo Fajardo Jr. at 5:51 a.m. Friday at his home on Boulevard View Avenue in unincorporated Waukegan, more than a year after a hit-and-run crash killed a 19-year-old motorcyclist near Beach Park. Fajardo now faces felony charges of leaving the scene of an accident involving death and obstructing justice.
The crash that led to the arrest happened in the early morning hours of July 27, 2025, when 19-year-old Adrian Rogel-Villanueva of Waukegan was riding his Kawasaki sports bike near the intersection of Green Bay Road and Salmon Avenue, according to the Chicago Tribune. Surveillance audio later determined the collision occurred around 2:34 a.m., but Lake County Sheriff's deputies were not dispatched to the scene until roughly 5:50 a.m., meaning Rogel-Villanueva lay undiscovered in a field near the intersection for more than three hours, per the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Preliminary autopsy findings from the Lake County Coroner's Office determined Rogel-Villanueva died from blunt force trauma sustained when his motorcycle was struck, as reported by Libertyville Patch in the days after the crash. Investigators tied evidence at the scene, including dark red paint transfers found on the motorcycle and surrounding vehicle parts, to a dark-colored pickup truck captured speeding toward the intersection on camera, a connection the sheriff's office says helped narrow the search to a maroon 2017 GMC Sierra.
Flock Cameras and a Party Two Minutes Away
The sheriff's office used Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras alongside the physical evidence to zero in on the suspect vehicle. Sheriff's crash investigators established that Fajardo's pickup truck had been at a party in unincorporated Gurnee, about two minutes from the crash site, where witnesses reported seeing him get into the vehicle and drive off at a high rate of speed shortly before the collision, according to CBS News.
Fajardo is accused of cancelling the truck's insurance policy in the days after the crash, and investigators believe the pickup has since been destroyed, according to the Tribune's reporting. The truck itself has not been recovered.
Sheriff Credits Persistence Behind 14-Month Case
Sheriff John Idleburg said the case demonstrated the dedication and persistence of detectives and crash investigators who continued working to identify the vehicle, determine what happened, and hold the responsible person accountable, per the Tribune. The timeline underscores how long these investigations can drag on.
Under Illinois law, leaving the scene of an accident involving death is a Class 1 felony. The obstruction of justice charge against Fajardo, tied to the alleged concealment or destruction of the truck, is a Class 4 felony.
A Dangerous Stretch of Road
Green Bay Road in Beach Park has been the site of multiple fatal traffic accidents in recent years, including a November 2024 head-on collision near Hart Street that killed a 5-year-old boy, according to CBS News Chicago. The corridor's troubled history extends beyond Beach Park; in May, Lake County's Major Crash Assistance Team investigated another severe hit-and-run along Green Bay Road at Buckley Road in neighboring North Chicago that left a 26-year-old pedestrian critically injured, as Hoodline previously reported.
The available reports do not address chemical testing or whether prosecutors will allege alcohol or drug impairment at trial. Fajardo's arrest closes a chapter on a case that had gone unsolved for more than a year, but the fate of the missing pickup truck, and the full circumstances of that night, remain unresolved as the case moves through the courts.
