Jeanette Sliwinski
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Jeanette Sliwinski (born 1982) is an American former model. She was found guilty of
reckless homicide Reckless homicide is a type of homicide and crime in which the perpetrator was aware that their act (or failure to act when there is a legal duty to act) creates significant risk of death or grievous bodily harm in the victim, but ignores the ri ...
for an incident on July 14, 2005 when she attempted suicide while driving, causing a crash that resulted in the deaths of three local musicians, John Glick, Douglas Meis, and Michael Dahlquist. She served three years in prison.


Early life

Jeanette Sliwinski was born in 1982, a daughter of Polish immigrants. She attended
Niles West High School Niles West High School (NWHS), officially Niles Township High School West, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, in the United States. NWHS is part of the Niles Township Community High School ...
. After graduating from high school she began taking on modeling jobs to help finance her
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
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. After high school she took a career as a local print model in which her pictures ended up in calendars and lingerie ads. In 2002 she moved to
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and worked as a trade show model.


Murder charge

On July 14, 2005 after a fight with her mother, Sliwinski burst out the door and took her car out in an alleged attempt to take her own life by speeding down Dempster Street in
Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a Village (United States), village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's dow ...
. She ran a red light at high speed, colliding with a car carrying John Glick of The Returnables, Douglas Meis of The Dials and EXO, and Michael Dahlquist of
Silkworm ''Bombyx mori'', commonly known as the domestic silk moth, is a moth species belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths. The silkworm is of ...
. Both vehicles flipped over. The first calls to Skokie
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came in about 12:15 pm. Before Meis died, he and Sliwinski were both taken to the hospital in ambulances. Police wanted to interview Meis before he went into emergency surgery, but they were too late and Meis died 10 minutes later from multiple injuries. When police interviewed Sliwinski, asking if she purposely drove into the car, she repeatedly changed her story. At 5:30 P.M. on the afternoon of July 15 Skokie police officers arrested Sliwinski in her hospital room. After the crash, Sliwinski underwent surgery for a broken ankle at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston before being transferred to the Cermak Health Services in the
Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...
Jail. She was later charged with three counts of
first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
and two counts of
aggravated battery Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating reasonable fear or apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more gen ...
.


Trial and imprisonment

Sliwinski pleaded
not guilty by reason of insanity Not or NOT may also refer to: Language * Not, the general declarative form of "no", indicating a negation of a related statement that usually precedes * ... Not!, a grammatical construction used as a contradiction, popularized in the early 1990 ...
and her trial began on October 15, 2007. In an attempt to prove Sliwiniki's diminished mental state, her attorneys showed records that she had been admitted to a Chicago psychiatric hospital only two weeks before the crash and that she had been released after only one day. Sliwinski was found not guilty of first degree murder but was convicted of a lesser charge of
reckless homicide Reckless homicide is a type of homicide and crime in which the perpetrator was aware that their act (or failure to act when there is a legal duty to act) creates significant risk of death or grievous bodily harm in the victim, but ignores the ri ...
. She was sentenced to eight years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 19 months of good behavior. Upon hearing of the results, a statement from bandmates of the three dead musicians said "words failed them". Sliwinski served her sentence at Dwight Correctional Center, a maximum security woman's prison about 80 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Prison officials secretly transferred Sliwinski from the Dwight Correctional Center to the Lincoln Correctional Center near
Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...
for her protection.


Release from prison

Sliwinski was paroled on the morning of October 2, 2008 from the Lincoln Correctional Center. Sliwinski's incarceration was reduced by an Illinois law that can cut sentences in half. She also received credit for time spent in the Cook County Jail awaiting trial, six months' reduction for good behavior, and three months' reduction for receiving counseling while in prison. The
Illinois Department of Corrections The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the adult state prison system. The IDOC is led by a director appointed by the Governor of Illinois, and its headquarters are in ...
received death threats directed towards Sliwinski shortly before her release. As a result, police stood guard outside her family's home in Morton Grove. Sliwinski was on
probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...
for a year until October 2, 2009. Her driver's license is eligible to be reinstated as of 2010.


Appearance in media

On August 10, 2008, Sliwinski's story was featured on the
Oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
television series ''
Snapped ''Snapped'' is an American true crime television series produced by Jupiter Entertainment which depicts high profile or bizarre cases of women accused of murder. Each episode outlines the motivation for murder, whether it be revenge against a ...
'', which focuses on female criminals. The show did not contain any statements from Sliwinski or her family.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sliwinski, Jeanette 1982 births Living people Female models from Illinois Models from Chicago Criminals from Illinois American people of Polish descent People from Parmer County, Texas 21st-century American women