AB Gustos Bar Deaths: Defendant Claimed Tree Limb Damaged Jeep
JOLIET — Mary Mosqueda became one of last week’s highest profile arrests for the Joliet Police Department when officers took her away in handcuffs, a month after the Crest Hill Police Department charged her with two counts of failure to report a motor vehicle accident resulting in death. After spending the past few days in the Will County Jail, the Joliet woman had her first court appearance on Monday related to the SAFE-T-Act.
On Monday, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office of Jim Glasgow convinced Will County Judge Vincent Cornelius in Courtroom 404 that Mosqueda must remain locked away from society as her felony case unfolds.
“Mary’s Facebook records were obtained as well,” the Will County State’s Attorney petition to deny pretrial release for Mosqueda indicated. “On March 10 at 9:53 p.m., one day after the crash, she messaged Cody Talmadge. At 11 :57 p.m., on March 10 she sends him a picture of the damage to the Jeep looking for his help fixing it.
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“On March 11, 2024, she is reaching out to a person trying to buy a hood for a Jeep. The defendant’s Google searches show that on March 10 at around 8 a.m, nine hours after the collision, she was looking up words relating to the occurrence. Her Google searches near that time included “Joliet Patch,” “Hit on Plan,” “Hit on Plainfield Road Joliet il” and “Hit on Plainfield Road Joliet il today.”
According to Will County prosecutor Tricia McKenna:
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On March 9, at 10:58 p.m.. the two victims, Danny Cooper, age 68, and wife, Laurie Cooper, age 53, were crossing Plainfield Road from AB Gustos Bar at 2115 Plainfield Road in Crest Hill.
“This incident is captured on video,” McKenna wrote.
A vehicle heading eastbound on Plainfield Road strikes both of them, causing the vehicle to visibly jump. The Coopers are left in the road, and the vehicle that struck them left the area.
Both victims died of their injuries.
The vehicle was eventually identified as a Jeep Compass with license plate EA 13580.
Mary Mosqueda was stopped while driving the vehicle and issued a citation on March 14, the prosecution’s petition revealed.
The vehicle was owned by someone who rented it out to a third party, who then loaned it to this defendant.
Jeanette Colon, a friend of the defendant, stated that Mary Mosqueda was driving this Jeep. She was with Mary at a hotel in Joliet on the date of the hit-and-run fatalities.
According to McKenna:
Mary had left for an hour and returned acting strangely. She parked the Jeep farther away from the hotel. She left and returned with the Jeep. Nobody was with her.
“She states Mary was high and tweaking when she returned. Mary then had a friend drive Jeanette home to Channahon,” the petition to deny pretrial release noted.
The prosecutor revealed how “Carl LaFever was in the Jeep with Mary when it was eventually located. He said Mary brought Jeanette to the Fairfield Inn in the Jeep on the date of this occurrence and left Jeanette with him for an hour while she left to pay a rental fee for the vehicle.”
As for Mosqueda, she gave “multiple statements,” to Crest Hill police regarding her role in ending the lives of Danny Cooper and Laurie Cooper, McKenna outlined.
“In the first, she verified her phone number and said the Jeep was a rental she was borrowing from ‘Doug,'” McKenna pointed out. “The vehicle was damaged when a tree branch hit the hood on March 10, 2024. She didn’t see the tree fall and didn’t even know how she knew a tree hit it.
“She then said she drove the Jeep to the hotel with Jeanette to meet Carl” from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and “she said her cell phone locations would not show her near the Jeep during this time.”
Court records reflect that “Doug Marks said he rented the car through the Turo app for his friend who ended up getting arrested and not needing it, so the Jeep was sitting at Jeanette’s house. Mary asked him if she could use it to go out with Jeanette and he agreed. Mary and Jeanette left with Mary driving. Mary did not return with the Jeep, court documents noted.
On March 10, the day after the double fatal, “Mary met Doug to give him more money to continue to rent it and was behaving strangely, acting concerned about Doug not parking near the Jeep. Joseph Blakemore, also known (Shorty O) stated he got a call to pick up Mary and Jeanette on March 9 around p.m. very near the time· of the crash,” prosecutors pointed out.
“He went to Best Western around 11:15 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. and saw the damaged Jeep. Mary was high and alone in the vehicle, in the driver’s seat. She had Joseph pick up Jeanette from the Fairfield Inn, and they drove Jeanette to Channahon. Joseph said Mary told him someone else was driving the Jeep.”
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