Man pleads quilty to 1980 Villa Park Crash
Roger Walburg, 52, pleased guilty to three counts of reckless homicide 28 years after being involved in a car-train accident that left three people dead.
In June 1980, Walburg, was driving a car which was carrying three acquaintances when he went he went around lowered gates at a railroad crossing in Villa Park, IL. The car he was driving was struck by an oncoming commuter train.
Walburg was scene running and stumbling from the accident scene. He was treated at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital for injuries consistent with being in a car crash.
Walburg fled the state and settled in Oklahoma where he was living under the alias, Jason Bowling.
Former Villa Park police detective, Norman Hall, continued to investigate the accident over the past 28 years and had enough evidence to have an arrest warrant issued in September 2008.
Walburg will be sentenced in January where he faces up to 4 years in prison. The sentencing includes a maximum of 3 years for the reckless homicides and 1 year for violating his original bond. The judge legally must use 1980 sentencing guidelines which were less harsh than today's guidelines for similar crimes.
Today a reckless homicide charge which involved more than one victim would mean a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
