New judge appointed in Carroll County teen death case after conflict of interest surfaces

MOUNT CARROLL – An Ogle County judge now will be presiding over the felony case of a former Carroll County sheriff’s deputy accused of reckless homicide and destroying evidence in connection with the July death of a Mount Carroll teen.

Matthew Herpstreith, 44, of Savanna, was charged March 24 with reckless homicide, reckless conduct and obstructing justice – all felonies – as well as a misdemeanor count each of attempted obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident in the death of 18-year-old Jackson Kradle of Mount Carroll. Herpstreith pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment April 23.

[ Former Carroll County deputy pleads not guilty to reckless homicide, destroying evidence in teenager’s death ]

Kradle’s body was found at 3:30 a.m. July 28 on Route 78, less than a mile north of Mount Carroll’s city limits. He was the victim of blunt force trauma, which a forensic pathologist ruled was the result of a vehicle/pedestrian crash.

Herpstreith and a Carroll County dispatcher, who were off duty at the time, alerted the Carroll County dispatch center via a nonemergency call that they had found the body on the highway. Herpstreith’s arrest came eight months later.

On Friday afternoon, Herpstreith appeared before Lee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Klahn with defense attorney Joseph Nack. It was scheduled to be a preliminary hearing, which is held to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial. Instead, the hearing focused on Nack’s motion for judge substitution based on the employment of Klahn’s brother-in-law with Illinois State Police.

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Matthew Herpstreith appears in Carroll County Circuit Court on Friday, May 9, 2025, in Mount Carroll. (Alex T. Paschal)

Nack’s motion requested a different judge to preside. Klahn granted the request, appointing Ogle County Judge Anthony Peska to the case. There was no objection from special prosecutor Charles Colburn, an attorney with the Illinois State Appellate Prosecutor’s Office.

Klahn said this was not out of the ordinary, as every defendant in a criminal case is allowed one substitution.

At a previous hearing April 23, Klahn said he expected to be assigned as the judge through the entirety of the case and that he had informed the chief judge that his brother-in-law is employed by Illinois State Police. If his brother-in-law was involved in the investigation and was going to be called to testify, Klahn would recuse himself, he said. He learned from Colburn at that hearing that his brother-in-law was involved in the case and would be called to testify at some point.

Herpstreith’s preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. June 13. Peska will preside at that hearing.