Will County woman charged in Dec. 4 hit-and-run death of Rock Falls man

DIXON – A 42-year-old Custer Park woman was charged Friday in Lee County court in connection with the Dec. 4 hit-and-run death of a Rock Falls pedestrian near Walton, Lee County Sheriff Clay Whelan said in a news release Friday afternoon.

Patrick J. Yocum, 39, had just left Walton Tap and was walking near the intersection of Sterling and Walton roads about 9:30 p.m. when he was hit, Whelan said.

His body was found in the road by a passerby, and he was pronounced dead at KSB Hospital in Dixon.

Kristin “Kristi” Kisich, who Whelan said was in town because she was dating someone in Dixon, is charged with failure to report and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving death, which is punishable by four to 15 years in prison, and leaving the scene of an accident, which carries a one- to three-year sentence.

Kisich called the Lee County Sheriff’s Office the afternoon of Dec. 5 and said she may be responsible. Jeep parts were found at the scene, and her 2014 Jeep Cherokee was found at a home in Dixon and impounded, according to the release.

Kisich was interviewed, and an additional investigation resulted in Friday’s charges.

The cellphone records of Kisich and Yocum also are being examined, investigators have said.

Kisich is free pending the rest of the court proceedings and has a pretrial conference March 21.

An online search of Will County court records revealed no criminal history for Kisich, nor have any other cases been filed in Lee County. Before this, she had “a spotless record,” Whelan said.

According to his obituary, Yocum, a Dixon native, is survived by his parents, Debra Yocum of Dixon and David Yocum of Mount Morris; two sons, Calub Yocum of Jamestown, Kentucky, and Jacob Yocum of Russell Springs, Kentucky; and a brother, Danny Janseen of San Antonio, Texas.