Man convicted after hitting, killing girlfriend with truck in Pontoon Beach sentenced to 60 years in prison

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (KMOV) - A man convicted of murder after he intentionally hit and killed his girlfriend with his truck was sentenced to 60 in prison on Tuesday.

Richard Mayor, 60, was convicted in June of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Lisa Dunnavant-Polach.

Mayor and Dunnavant-Polach had been in a romantic relationship, and Dunnavant-Polach was trying to avoid Mayor after the two had been in an argument. According to a court release, Dunnavant-Polach was walking on Illinois 111 after the dispute. A tractor-trailer driver saw Dunnavant-Polach was distressed and pulled over to offer help; as Dunnavant-Polach attempted to enter the tractor-trailer, Mayor hit her with his pickup truck. The incident happened on February 21.

The tractor-trailer driver is a former Marine and testified in court that he pulled the microphone wire off his CB radio and used it to tie a tourniquet on Dunnavant-Polach leg, which had become severed after being struck. Dunnavant-Polach told the driver that her boyfriend was driving the pickup truck that hit her.

According to testimony, Dunnavant-Polach told rescuers, “I have children. I’m not ready to die yet.”

Dunnavant-Polach was taken to a St. Louis hospital, where she died from her injuries.

“We highly commend the fellow motorists and emergency responders who heroically tried to help Lisa Dunnavant-Polach and save her life,” said State’s Attorney Thomas Haine. “These Good Samaritans continued to do the right thing, by having the courage to come to court and tell the jury what the victim could not: that it was Richard Mayor who mowed her down, and that she did not want to die.”

Mayor’s pickup truck became disabled and was located miles from the scene on Illinois 203 in Granite City. A Madison County sheriff’s deputy located Mayor near the vehicle and took him into custody.

Mayor claims continued to drive after the incident because he “blacked out” and thought the damage to his truck was caused by hitting a deer. He asked jurors to consider convicting him of reckless homicide, a lesser offense, and testified that he accidentally struck the victim after his foot became stuck between his truck’s brake and accelerator.

In his closing argument, Assistant State’s Attorney Luke Yager called Mayor’s account “fantastical.”

“This was an extreme case of domestic violence,” said Haine. “We will continue to strive to hold domestic abusers accountable.”

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