{"id":966052,"date":"2026-07-29T04:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/966052\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T04:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:34:21","slug":"marine-veteran-48-idd-as-woman-killed-in-fox-river-boat-crash-nbc-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/966052\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine veteran, 48, ID\u2019d as woman killed in Fox River boat crash \u2013 NBC Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 48-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a speeding boater on the Fox River over the weekend is remembered by her family as a selfless and kind U.S. Marine veteran who served her country after immigrating to Chicago from Poland.<\/p>\n

Magdalena Jablonska was out on the Fox River on Saturday with her family when 45-year-old boater Richard Stevenson slammed into the vessel they were on from behind at 80 mph, according to authorities. Stevenson was both drunk and speeding when he crashed into them,<\/a> prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Jablonska was killed in the crash<\/a> and her dog and fianc\u00e9 were both injured.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

“She would go above and beyond for anyone, there was no one like her, the most selfless and kind person you would ever meet,” said Michelle Macias, Jablonska’s sister. <\/p>\n

Macias said Jablonska joined the Marines “straight out of high school” and “never [did] anything for herself, always for everybody else.”<\/p>\n

Jablonska was a big fan of dogs and often “loved the shelters for the puppies,” her family said. They are now raising money for animals in the wake of the devastating loss and hope that Stevenson will be held accountable in court. <\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

“We are giving our hopes and faith they will do right by her so nobody else gets hurt,” Macias said. <\/p>\n

Stevenson, who worked for the prominent Bolingbrook-based Stevenson Crane Company that is owned by his family, is facing charges of aggravated DUI and reckless homicide after the crash, records show, and prosecutors say his blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit when he sped his high-powered pontoon in a slow zone. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors called him a “ticking time bomb” because of his history of DUI charges dating back more than 20 years, including two previous DUI convictions, three reckless driving convictions, three fleeing and eluding police convictions and four misdemeanor speeding convictions, according to court records.<\/p>\n

They also said witnesses described how he had picked up a bucket of Fireball whisky bottles and was drinking them as he drove. He allegedly stopped later at a bar for two more shots.<\/p>\n

They say that after the crash, Stevenson admitted to another witness that he was drinking and that his life was over. He stayed on the scene and was later taken to a hospital where he allegedly refused blood and urine tests, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer our sincerest condolences to the victims\u2019 families and loved ones. Yesterday, Richard Stevenson’s employment with the company in the equipment sales department was terminated. He held no leadership role,” Stevenson Crane Company said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Stevenson was ordered to be detained until trial<\/a>, and his next court date is set for August.<\/p>\n

Lake County Sheriff John D. Idleburg released a lengthy statement on Tuesday regarding the crash, stating in part: “Like so many in our community, I am frustrated and saddened by the reckless, dangerous, and inexcusable and preventable actions of a boater on the Fox River whose actions claimed one life and critically injured another person last weekend. The victims were people simply enjoying time on our recreational waterways. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and we are hoping for the recovery of the person critically injured.”<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 48-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a speeding boater on the Fox River over the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":966053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,24563],"class_list":["post-966052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-mchenry-county"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117001407010079744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}