No Arrests Yet In Libertyville Vehicular Hijacking: Police

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — Police in Lake County are continuing to investigate a violent vehicular hijacking that happened last February in Libertyville, authorities told Patch Friday.

Investigators have developed suspects in the case but have not yet taken anyone into custody, Lake County Sheriff's Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli told Patch in an email response. He said investigators are "very close" to seeking arrest warrants, he added.

An investigation into the Feb. 23 vehicular hijacking has been ongoing since police responded to a home in the 16000 block of Route 137 after a 34-year-old pregnant woman was beaten by a man and her 2021 Volkswagen Atlas was stolen with her 2-year-old son, Isaiah, still inside it.

The 2-year-old boy was pushed out of the stolen vehicle at a business in the 2200 block of Lakeside Drive in Waukegan, according to media reports and police. An alert citizen saw the toddler walking near the busy road and came to his aid, according to an ABC 7 Chicago report.

The child was not injured and was reunited with his family a short time later.

Following the incident, Taylor Shepherd, the Libertyville mother beaten while protecting her son, spent several months in the trauma center at the hospital. She underwent an eight-hour surgery and was "fully non-weight bearing on the left side of her body due to shattered elbow, hip, pelvis and tailbone along with detached vertebrae," according to the GoFundMe set up to help raise money for her family while she recovers from her injuries.

The GoFundMe, set up by neighbors living in the North Libertyville Estates neighborhood, has brought in more than $83,000 as of Friday.

Shepherd was five months pregnant at the time of the incident, and she wrote in a March 20 update, which was posted on the GoFundMe, that her baby was going to be OK. At the time, she was using a walker and wheelchair to get around.

"Every day I remind myself that my bones and body will heal, and that it truly is a miracle that my baby and I are alive. I never would've thought that at 34 years old and pregnant with my third baby that I would be getting around my house in a wheelchair and asking my loved ones for constant help," she wrote. "This has been a truly humbling experience and I look forward to so many things like holding my baby, changing my baby’s diaper, cooking my family a meal and cleaning up my children's toys; all the things in the day-to-day life that we normally take for granted, I can't wait to do those things again with a grateful heart. The fact that I get the opportunity to live, to heal, that the miracle inside of me continues to grow and give me unbelievable strength."

Shepherd has since had a healthy baby boy, according to her Facebook page. But Shepherd has still been undergoing physical therapy for treatment of the injuries she sustained during the vehicular hijacking, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

• Those wishing to donate to Taylor and her family can do so here.

Parents File Lawsuit Against Volkswagen

Meanwhile Shepherd and Isaiah's father, Gregory Kovtelidakis, have since filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen claiming negligence for allegations the company did not promptly provide police with GPS tracking information immediately following the hijacking.

A lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court claims a deputy with the Lake Count Sheriff's Office called Volkswagen and Verizon Connect to request the GPS tracking and data from the 2021 Atlas, explaining that the stolen vehicle had a 2-year-old child in it, but were denied that information because a free Car-Net Services subscription had expired.

A representative told the deputy they needed $150 to renew those services and provide the information on the vehicle's location. The deputy informed the representative that it was a "life-or-death" situation and the repsentative still refused to provide the information, according to the lawsuit.

Forty minutes later, the deputy called back to provide a payment. The delay caused "extreme emotional distress" since Isaiah's parent did not know whether their son "who had just been violently abducted, was dead or alive," according to the lawsuit.