A woman was charged with murder after allegedly using her boyfriend’s vehicle to run over and kill him Thursday night in the parking lot of a resort in west suburban St. Charles.
Kathleen Vulpitta, 56, of River Grove, was charged with a single count of first-degree murder, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
About 9:20 p.m. Thursday, emergency crews responded to a call of an unresponsive man at Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., prosecutors and St. Charles police said.
When they arrived, medics found 61-year-old Earl Hagen unconscious in the west parking lot with bruising and tire marks across his chest, which indicated that he may have been struck by a vehicle, authorities said. Hagen, who lived in Plainfield, was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation found that Vulpitta and Hagen were staying at the resort together, prosecutors said. At some point Thursday evening, the couple left their room and went to the parking lot, where Vulpitta hopped into Hagen’s car and drove over him.
On Sunday morning, Vulpitta’s bond was set at $2 million, prosecutors said. Her next court date was scheduled for Oct. 1.
“Domestic violence is a silent epidemic that claims millions of victims each and every year, sometimes with irreversible results, as alleged in this case,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin said in a statement. “The true tragedy of domestic violence deaths is that they are 100 [percent] avoidable. Throughout the country, local social service programs offer assistance and guidance to people in an abusive relationship on how they can safely remove themselves.”
