A suburban Chicago man accused of abandoning his dead wife’s body on the side of a road in Inverness was released on electronic monitoring during a detention hearing at the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows today.
Ivan Muryn, 28, of Palatine, is charged with failure to report an accident involving death, according to court records. The charge is considered “not detainable” under Illinois’ new cashless bail system, which went into effect Monday.
While officials said Muryn is a citizen of Ukraine, prosecutors did not ask Judge Ellen Mandeltort to hold him in jail under the new law’s “willful flight” provision, according to court records. Mandeltort ordered Muryn to surrender his passport upon release and barred him from driving.
Inverness police responded to Dundee Road and Guthrie Drive around 1:30 a.m. Monday after receiving calls of a woman lying on the road.
They found 29-year-old Alona Muryn dead at the scene. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not ruled on the cause or manner of her death as of Thursday evening.
Police said Ivan Muryn was driving with his wife in the car when they got into an argument. The woman removed her seatbelt, opened her car door, and fell from the vehicle, the Arlington Cardinal reported, citing the Inverness Police Department. Police said she was struck by the car after falling out.
Ivan Muryn stopped, checked on Alona, and then fled the scene without calling for help, according to the allegations.
The Cardinal reported that a device that appears to be a security camera is located near the incident scene.
Muryn surrendered to the police later in the day.
Domestic battery cases qualify for pre-trial detention due to public safety concerns under Illinois’ new law, but Muryn is not charged with a domestic crime. He also does not qualify to be jailed before trial because the charge he faces is not considered a forcible felony and because it could result in probation upon conviction.
