Former Oregon drive-in owner stabbed to death

OREGON – The man accused of stabbing a former Oregon businessman to death is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, Winnebago County Court records show.

Byron native Joseph Pendergrass, 59, former owner of Jay’s Drive-In, was stabbed in the Advanced Medical Rehabilitation parking lot on Windsor Road in Loves Park around 6:30 p.m., Loves Park police said in a news release. He was pronounced dead at Rockford Memorial Hospital.

Roland Romeo Breault, 52, of Rockford, was arrested a short time later. He is in Winnebago County Jail on $1 million bond, and has a hearing June 30.

Pendergrass owned Dusty Boots Saloon & Eatery in Rockford.

Before that, he owned the drive-in at 107 W. Washington St. for more than 20 years. He sold it to his niece, Vicky Wilken, and her husband Terry in 2006.

“Joe had a really dynamic personality and everyone liked him,” Terry Wilken said Thursday evening. “Whenever you are at a large gathering, it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to Joe. You only had a few minutes, but you seemed to want more time.”

After the Wilkens took over the drive-in, Pendergrass financed it for a year so they could get the business going, he said.

“Those are the things about Joe that people don’t know. He always went above and beyond for the people he loved.”

The family has not yet made funeral arrangements, he said.