Lisle Man Gets 26 Years for First-Degree Murder in Crash

A 56-year-old Lisle man will serve 100 percent of 26 years in prison for first-degree murder for crashing into and killing a 25-year-old mother in Waukegan in December 2010, the Daily Herald reports. 

According to the paper, Donald Mischke, 56, was charged with crashing his car into Elisha Clark-Idelburg’s (of Grayslake) and killing her while fleeing police at speeds up to 100 mph after breaking into a Waukegan Target and stealing a $600 flat-screen television to pay for cocaine, which he also had in his system at the time of the crash, prosecutors said.

Mischke will serve concurrent 26- and 7-year terms for first-degree murder and aggravated DUI; a first-degree murder charge can be applied if a victim is killed while the offender is committing another crime, the paper said. 

“Your single-minded desire to commit a burglary evinced a callous disregard for anyone or anything that got in your way,” Circuit Judge Mark Levitt told Mischke at sentencing, according to the Lake County News-Sun. “Nothing can repair the pain when an innocent life is taken.” 

According to the News-Sun, Mischke blamed his attorney, Chris Lombardo, for the conviction, and filed a motion for ineffective counsel that was denied; Mischke also apologized to Clark-Idelburg’s family.

“I am a father. I know the worst nightmare of losing a child. I’ve had nightmares about that. I can’t fathom actually experiencing the pain that I’ve caused them,” the paper quoted Mischke saying. 

Read more at the Daily Herald and Lake County News -Sun websites.