Aurora man gets 18 years in prison for killing a woman with his car

A 49-year-old Aurora man was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday for hitting and killing a woman with his car, then dragging her body as he drove away from the scene last year, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Henry Lawrence Wardwell was on probation, was driving without a valid license and did not have car insurance when he struck and killed Juliet PowellBrown, 47, at a tire store on South Chambers Road in Aurora.

A jury on May 5 convicted Wardwell of five counts, including leaving the scene of an accident involving death, a felony, the DA’s office said.

He had been convicted of leaving the scene of an accident involving death, vehicular homicide – reckless driving, failing to report an accident and two other charges.

On Aug. 7, 2018, PowellBrown was with her family at the store near East Mississippi Avenue and South Chambers Road when Wardwell backed into their car, prosecutors said. He told the family that he would retrieve his insurance and registration, but instead drove off.

Powell-Brown and her husband followed Wardwell, jumping out of their car to confront him down the street. As Wardwell attempted a U-turn to get away, he struck PowellBrown, who fell under the wheels of the trailer that Wardwell was towing, the DA’s office said.

He then drove away, dragging Powell-Brown with him. After she was dislodged from the car, Wardwell kept driving, prosecutors said.

“What kind of person mortally wounds another member of our community and then leaves them to die an unimaginable death?” District Attorney George Brauchler said in a statement.

Powell-Brown’s family and pastor attended Thursday’s sentencing hearing.

“The nightmares keep occurring for all of us,” her husband said, according to the news release. “We lost a loving mother, a wife, my best friend and confidante. These losses can never be recouped. We have been given a life sentence.”