Family mourns Des Plaines woman killed in Fox River boat crash over the weekend 8%
By Cindy Hernandez23%
7/30/2026, 12:56:39 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Availability Heuristic, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 10.3% saturation with 88 hits. Analysis detected 541 faulty-reasoning hits from 852 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 17.5% and a BS Rank of 8% (28,166 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.10% of the article peer group.
Whenever the weather was clear, Magdalena Jablonska loved heading out on the boat with her fiancé and spending as much time as possible on the water, according to her family.
But one of those outings turned deadly when Jablonska, of Des Plaines, was killed Saturday after a speeding boat slammed into hers while in a "no wake zone" of the Fox River.
Now, her grieving family is trying to come to terms with losing a loved one in a crash caused by another boater.
“I’m still in disbelief,” said her younger brother Marcin Jablonski.
“I just keep thinking that I should have spent more time with her.”
Jablonski, who lives in North Carolina, said he had gotten a text from his sister just hours before the crash.
She had sent him a funny video, something they often did.
Jablonska, 48, her fiancé, Allen, and their dog were out on the Fox River in McHenry when they were hit by 45-year-old Richard Stevenson of Lisle, who was driving his pontoon at an “extremely high rate of speed” around 2:30 p.m., according to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office.
Marcin Jablonski (left), pictured with his sister Magdalena Jablonska, said, “Whenever she was around you, she just made you feel special.”
Jablonska suffered blunt-force injuries to the head and body and was pronounced dead at the scene, said the McHenry County Coroner's office.
Jablonska's fiancé also was injured and was taken to a nearby hospital.
He has been released and is recovering at home.
Jablonski said the loss of his sister has been devastating for everyone who loved her.
His sister was a positive person, he said, and always saw the best in others.
“Whenever she was around you, she just made you feel special,” Jablonski said.
“She never had any enemies.
Everybody was her friend.”
Jablonska was born in Poland and moved to the United States while in elementary school.
After graduating from high school, she joined the Marine Corps and was stationed in Okinawa.
Joining the Marines was his sister’s way of “challenging herself,” Jablonski said.
“She did very good in school, but she wanted to be a stronger woman,” he said.
“She wanted to be more positive, more influential."
Jablonska later got a job working at Servpro, handling insurance claims.
Magdalena Jablonska died when her boat was struck by another on Saturday on the Fox River.
Her dog survived.
Candy Shoevlin said she heard Stevenson coming before witnessing the crash, which happened right at her dock.
"We heard how fast he was going, so we went to go yell at him to tell him to slow down, and we were running.
That's when he hit the little boat," Shoevlin said.
Shoevlin said she immediately called 911 while her husband and son rushed to help pull Jablonska’s fiancé and dog from the water.
Her husband tied the small boat to their dock as they waited for police and an ambulance to arrive.
Afterward, Shoevlin said they grabbed towels from their home to help dry Jablonska’s fiancé and cover her body.
The dog was not injured, according to Shoevlin.
"It's been hard," she said.
"My husband is a veteran, and he's seen some stuff, but this one's close to home."
Stevenson was found in the trees off the shoreline near where his pontoon had come to rest and was placed in custody, prosecutors said.
A memorial erected on the bank of the Fox River near the 1800 block of South Fernwood Lane in McHenry, where Magdalena Jablonska’s boat came to rest after another boat slammed into hers on Saturday.
Eric White/Sun-Times
He was charged with one count of reckless homicide and two counts of aggravated DUI causing death.
Prosecutors said Stevenson’s blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.
Shoevlin said Stevenson was known in the area for his reckless boating on the river.
She said he was often seen speeding through the no-wake zone.
"People follow the rules, but this guy just never did," she said.
"It's hard to miss his boat because it's such a big boat.
"
At a hearing Monday, McHenry County Judge Cynthia D.
Lamb ordered that Stevenson remain in custody.
“This man was a ticking time bomb, and that bomb went off this past Saturday on the Fox River," said Deputy Chief Brian Miller during the detention hearing.
Stevenson is next scheduled to appear in court next Wednesday .
Court records show Stevenson had a history of driving a motor vehicle under the influence.
He had previously been charged on three occasions with DUI, reckless driving and speeding.
Stevenson’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
Jablonski questioned why Stevenson was still allowed to operate any sort of vehicle with his history.
“How many times does somebody need to repeat the same offense until they’re stopped?”
Jablonski asked.
A GoFundMe has been set up to honor Magdalena Jablonska’s passion for rescuing dogs; all proceeds will be donated to an animal shelter.
Contributing: Eric White, Sophie Sherry
Speakers
5speakers58%attributed speech357writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageDeputy Chief Brian Miller
28 attributed words5.7% of attributed speech49% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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