Woman with reckless homicide conviction from 20 years ago pleads guilty to drunken driving in Crystal Lake

A woman convicted in 2004 of reckless homicide in a Sycamore crash that killed her 20-year-old boyfriend was sentenced this month to three years in prison after pleading guilty to drunken driving more than a year ago in Crystal Lake.

Patricia DeMaio, 40, of the 500 block of Regency Drive in Lake Zurich, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated driving under the influence, a Class 3 felony.

The offense was aggravated because DeMaio was convicted in 2004 of reckless homicide while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. She had pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in DeKalb County jail and 48 months of probation, according to reports at the time and DeKalb County court records.

DeMaio was 20 years old on June 21, 2003, when she crashed her Jeep Cherokee while driving west on Plank Road in Sycamore. The Jeep left the road and rolled before striking a utility pole near a curve at Moose Range Road, killing her then-boyfriend, Jonathan Moore.

She was arrested again in September 2021 after police said she was driving a vehicle in Crystal Lake with a blood-alcohol concentration greater than the legal limit of .08, according to the indictment filed in the McHenry County courthouse.

DeMaio, who has been out of jail on $20,000 bond since shortly after her 2021 arrest, is required to serve 50% of the three-year sentence and will receive credit for one day served in the county jail after her initial arrest.

She also will receive credit for any days spent in the custody of the jail until she is taken into custody by the Illinois Department of Corrections, McHenry County Judge James Cowlin said.

Cowlin said he will recommend to IDOC that her offense is the result of the use or abuse of alcohol and suggest she be admitted into a substance abuse program while incarcerated.

Following her prison sentence, DeMaio will be on probation for six months. She is also ordered to pay $2,008 in fines and fees.