A 21-year-old Plainfield man has been charged with drug-induced homicide following an investigation into the death of 20-year-old Karly Jackson of Plainfield in December at a Kendall County motel.
According to Kendall County court records, on April 10, Kendall County prosecutors charged Eric Ziarko of Plainfield with drug-induced homicide. He was later taken into custody by Plainfield police.
He posted $25,000 of his $250,000 bail on Saturday and is free on bond.
Jackson was found by police at about 7:15 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2014, after authorities received a call about an unresponsive woman in a room at the Council Courts Motel in the 1000 block of Route 30 in Aurora Township, according to the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office.
The responding sheriff’s deputy and an Oswego police officer performed CPR on Jackson until paramedics arrived and took her to Rush-Copley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.
An autopsy conducted by the Kane County Coroner’s Officer later showed she had died of a drug overdose.
An investigation into Jackson’s death lead to the recent charges.
Kendall County Assistant State’s Attorney Nemura Pencyla has prosecuted several drug-induced homicide cases in both Kane and Kendall counties, and they’re not always easy to prove, he said.
In the case of Jackson’s death, police got some good leads which led to Ziarko’s arrest.
“These cases can only really develop if law enforcement first sees them as potential crimes,” Pencyla said. “It’s not just someone (overdosing). Someone is overdosing from an illegal drug. How do we find out who gave that drug to them, and does that delivery rise to a prosecutable case?”
When first responders arrived at the motel where Jackson was overdosing, Pencyla said, there was evidence of drug use and Ziarko was still on the scene.
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