Investigation Continues

March 23, 1996

By ROBYN LONTZ

Tribune Staff Writer

A state agent appears to be no closer to arresting the driver who struck and killed Deidre Week than investigators were a year ago.

The 11-year-old Vesper area girl died March 24, 1994, after being struck by a hit and run driver while riding her bicycle near her home on County Trunk HH.

A year later, there still have been no arrests made, but Criminal Investigations Administrator Frank Meyers, of the state Department of Justice, says the investigation continues.

John Rehrauer, a special agent out of the Eau Claire Department of Criminal Investigation office, was assigned to the case in September after Wood County Sheriff Brian Illingworth made a formal request for assistance from the attorney general.

That request was accompanied by a petition signed by more than 2,500 Vesper area residents, who also wanted a special investigator to look into the girl’s death.

Rehrauer has been assigned to work on the case until it is brought to a successful conclusion, or all possible leads have been exhausted.

“Right now, the case remains open, and the investigation is continuing,” Meyers said Thursday.

Wood County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Robert Levendoske said Rehrauer has been doing the bulk of the investigation, along with Wood County Investigator Thomas Reichert.

“The two of them meet on a weekly basis to keep each other updated and sometimes coordinate their investigations,” Levendoske said.

Since Rehrauer began his work in September, Levendoske said there have been some leads that have developed as a result of his ongoing investigation. “He can’t say, though, when his investigation will be complete,” Levendoske said.

“He’s actually had a dual role here because he’s had to review the investigation done by our department as well. At this point in his review, he has found that we had a good and credible investigation.”

Levendoske said the statute of limitations on the hit and run homicide – a felony – is seven years.