EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Jurors in Madison County needed only 40 minutes of deliberation before returning a guilty verdict against a man who intentionally struck and killed a woman with his truck along a Pontoon Beach highway.
Lisa Dunnavant-Polach was killed on Feb. 21, along Illinois 111, in the area north of Interstate 270 near Bel Air Drive.
Dunnavant-Polach was running on foot and attempting to evade Richard Mayor, who was driving a Ford F-150. Prosecutors said they had been in a relationship, but got into a dispute prior.
Stacy O’Dell saw what was happening and called her husband, Steven, and asked him to come and help. Steven, who was driving a tractor-trailer, pulled over along the side of the highway to help Dunnavant-Polach. As Dunnavant-Polach ran to get into the tractor-trailer, the F-150 slammed into her and sped off.
Steven O’Dell, a former Marine, testified that one of Dunnavant-Polach’s legs was severed, and that he used a microphone cord from his CB radio to tie a tourniquet around her leg.
Steven called 911 and asked Dunnavant-Polach if she knew who hit her. She identified Mayor as the man behind the wheel of the pickup.
Dunnavant-Polach was taken to a St. Louis hospital, but later succumbed to her injuries. She was 46.