Jackson Kradle

Jackson Kradle was an eighteen year old resident of Mount Carroll, Illinois, whose death in the early hours of July 28, 2024, turned into one of the most closely watched criminal cases in northwestern Illinois. He was not a public figure before his death. He became known to a wide audience only because of the circumstances in which he died and the two years of investigation, inquest and criminal proceedings that followed.

Kradle's body was found along Illinois Route 78, south of Lowden Road near Mount Carroll, in the early morning hours of July 28, 2024. The discovery was not reported through a 911 emergency call. Instead, an off duty Carroll County sheriff's deputy called the sheriff's office non emergency line at about 3:31 a.m. to report a body along the roadway. A forensic pathologist later determined that Kradle died of blunt trauma to the head consistent with being struck by a motor vehicle.

What made the case extraordinary, and what has kept it in the news through the autocomplete searches people still type today, is who was eventually accused. Carroll County Coroner Matt Jones convened an inquest in January 2025 that lasted two days, which the coroner later described as the most detailed proceeding of his career, and a coroner's jury ruled Kradle's death a homicide. Months later, former Carroll County sheriff's deputy Matthew Herpstreith was charged with reckless homicide, reckless conduct and obstructing justice in connection with Kradle's death, with prosecutors alleging he was behind the wheel of the vehicle that struck the teenager. Herpstreith has pleaded not guilty.

The case widened further when a Carroll County dispatcher was fired over an ethics violation connected to how the non emergency call about Kradle's body was handled that night, and when Illinois State Police investigators testified that DNA recovered from Herpstreith's truck matched Kradle. A woman who was in the vehicle with Herpstreith that night, Amy Hubble, was later granted immunity by a judge so she could testify against him, as was a former dispatcher.

Kradle's death devastated his hometown of Mount Carroll, a small Carroll County community, and galvanized supporters who have pushed publicly for accountability, including through a memorial softball tournament held in his name. His case has moved slowly through the courts, with pretrial hearings, rulings on discovery and immunity, and a change of judge along the way, before reaching trial in November 2026, more than two years after his death.

As of today, November 9, 2026, Herpstreith's trial on charges related to Kradle's death is underway in the Carroll County court system, following jury selection earlier in the month. No verdict has been reached, and this page will be updated as the trial concludes.