Reckless Homicide Investigation Waiting on DNA Analysis

A delay in the reckless homicide case against Nicholas Sord now depends on forensic scientists at the Illinois Crime Lab.

Sord was close to three times over the blood-alcohol limit on New Year’s Day 2010 when he lost control of his SUV near 147th Street and Oak Park Avenue, killing his 20-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Mejia, of New Lenox, according to police.

More than two years later, prosecutors plan to send the hair and blood samples collected from inside the rolled-over car following the crash for analysis.

Sord’s attorney, Jeff Aprati, is planning to use the evidence—and its location inside the car—to argue that Mejia caused the crash. On Thursday, he dismissed rumors that imply Sord and Mejia were “explicitly sexual” during the crash.

Without getting into specifics, Aprati added, "nobody is saying it’s bad—that’s the bottom line.”

Pretrial investigations could be stalled for many months, depending on the demand for forensic testing at the state crime lab. Aprati had been planning to have the DNA samples analyzed independently and said he may follow through with that request if two or three months pass without any word from the state.

Aprati believes the state doesn’t see any evidentiary value in analyzing whose DNA was in the car at the time of the crash and where it was recovered. Assistant state’s attorney Nick D’Angelo, lead prosecutor on the case, denied comment.

Both sides are scheduled back in court on March 28 for a status hearing.