Male juvenile pleads guilty to inducing Joliet teen’s death by suicide

A 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty Tuesday to inducing a Joliet teenage girl to kill herself last year, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Illinois State Police investigators said the boy was with Lesly Reynoso, 16, when she jumped off the Interstate 80 bridge and into the Des Plaines River last August.

Reynoso was missing for two days before her body was recovered from the river Aug. 27, police said. The Will County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a suicide by drowning.

The boy was sentenced to three years’ probation, said Carole Cheney, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office.

The boy was charged with inducement to commit suicide Nov. 6 of last year. Cheney said he was charged under a subsection of state law that says a person commits inducement to commit suicide when they intentionally offer and provide the physical means for the suicide, or participate in the physical act.

Reynoso’s death devastated her family and many community members. Several people attended a candlelight vigil in her memory Aug. 28.

Jeffrey Godin, an attorney who represented the boy who pleaded guilty, did not immediately respond to a call for comment.