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MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee man faces felony charges in the death of a 32-year-old woman struck by his vehicle on an interstate off-ramp last year, authorities said, marking the end of a months-long investigation capped by a dramatic pursuit through city streets.
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Jennifer Gail Dimatteo lay unnoticed for hours along the southbound Interstate 43 exit at Lapham Boulevard before commuters discovered her body amid scattered vehicle parts on the morning of Feb. 23, 2024. The off-ramp, tucked beneath the Greenfield Avenue overpass, sits in a dimly lit stretch where early-morning visibility is poor, according to Milwaukee County sheriff's investigators.
The collision occurred sometime between 1:47 a.m. and 2:02 a.m., when Dimatteo was hit by a blue 2022 Volkswagen Atlas sport utility vehicle, officials determined through debris analysis and surveillance video. The SUV, rented by the driver's sister, fled the scene without stopping, leaving behind fragments of its undercarriage and a partial license plate that helped trace it to a local repair shop days later. Forensic examination revealed traces of fabric matching Dimatteo's clothing embedded in the vehicle's damaged front end, linking it definitively to the crash.
Hours after the impact, the SUV's driver, 23-year-old Forest Mayes, approached deputies near Fifth and Lapham streets to report a minor fender-bender, claiming another motorist had sideswiped him during a merge. He made no mention of striking a pedestrian. The heavily damaged vehicle was returned to the rental agency that same day and shuttled for repairs before investigators could seize it.
Dimatteo, a Milwaukee resident, was pronounced dead at 8:48 a.m. after first responders attempted CPR. The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office ruled her death a homicide caused by multiple blunt force injuries consistent with a high-impact vehicular strike.
The case broke open on March 8, when deputies spotted Mayes near 20th and Rawson avenues. What followed was a 16.8-mile chase through residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors, with Mayes allegedly accelerating to 98 mph, veering into oncoming traffic, ignoring red lights and stop signs, and clipping another vehicle near Chase and Holt avenues before his arrest near 20th and Layton. A passenger in the SUV was detained but not charged.
In custody, Mayes told detectives the predawn darkness made it impossible to see what he had hit, insisting, "This ain't no intentional homicide." Prosecutors, however, alleged he knew or should have known of the collision given the extent of the damage and the debris trail.
Mayes, already on bail for unrelated offenses, was charged with hit-and-run resulting in death, felony bail jumping, fleeing or eluding officers, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, and additional hit-and-run and bail-jumping counts tied to the pursuit. He remains held in Milwaukee County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.
The two men who found Dimatteo's body, construction workers Kevin Siskoy and Ty Peters, described pulling over their van in disbelief after spotting what appeared to be a mannequin in the roadway. "I look out my side of the window and I go, 'Kevin, I think I see a dead body lying on the side of the road,'" Peters recounted to local reporters. They circled the scene on foot, shouting for a response that never came, surrounded by twisted metal and shattered plastic. "That's horrible," Siskoy said, his voice cracking. "I hope they catch the person who did this to her. We as a people need to look out for each other more than this."
Community advocates echoed the sentiment, calling for improved lighting and barriers on freeway ramps to prevent similar tragedies. Dimatteo's family has not issued public statements, but friends remembered her as a vibrant soul whose loss has left a void in Milwaukee's close-knit circles. The case, while resolved with an arrest, underscores ongoing concerns about hit-and-run fatalities in urban corridors, where drivers often evade accountability in the shadows of night.
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Charges filed after dead body found on I-43 off ramp [https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/charges-filed-after-dead-body-found-on-i-43-off-ramp]
Witnesses who found woman's body on freeway ramp: 'I hope they catch the person' [https://www.wisn.com/article/witnesses-who-found-womans-body-on-freeway-ramp-i-hope-they-catch-the-person/60182178]
Man charged with fatal hit-and-run on freeway ramp [https://www.wisn.com/article/man-charged-with-fatal-with-hit-and-run-on-freeway-ramp/60216533]
MCSO: 23-year-old man charged with hit-and-run after woman found dead on I-43 off-ramp [https://www.cbs58.com/news/mcso-23-year-old-man-charged-with-hit-and-run-causing-death-after-body-was-found-on-offramp]
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