CARROLL COUNTY, ILLINOIS, Ill. — Carroll County Coroner Matthew Jones has announced that a formal inquest will be held on Dec. 13 to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of 18-year-old Jackson Kradle, who was killed along Illinois Route 78 north of Mount Carroll on July 28, 2024.
The purpose of the inquest is to establish the manner of Kradle’s death, which officials said is a standard procedure in many death investigations in Illinois.
Jones said that Forensic Pathologist Dr. Mark Peters determined the cause of death to be “blunt trauma to the head, due to a motor-vehicle pedestrian crash.” The focus of the inquest will be to establish the manner of death, which could help determine if it was accidental, intentional or had other contributing factors.
The Carroll County Sheriff's Office released a statement about the investigation on Thursday, Nov. 7, outlining the events that took place the day Kradle was killed. According to the Sheriff's Office, their dispatch center received a non-emergency call from an off-duty employee around 3:30 a.m. on July 28 reporting a body in the roadway.
A Carroll County deputy sheriff and dispatcher who is also a paramedic, both off-duty, were on the scene. Officials said that they handed the investigation off to the Illinois State Police due to a potential conflict of interest with the two off-duty employees, who officials were looking to interview.
On Monday, July 29, Both employees were placed on administrative leave, informed they were under investigation and told they would be interrogated in 48 hours. According to Carroll County Sheriff Ryan Kloepping, both employees resigned on Wednesday, July 31, before an internal investigation was completed.
The case is now being reviewed by the Illinois State Police and the Illinois State Appellate Prosecutor's Office. You can find the sheriff's entire statement by clicking here.
News 8's Drew Coffey spoke with Kradle's father Joshua Sisler to hear his response to the sheriff's office's statement. You can read the full story here.