The woman facing reckless homicide charges for a June 20, 2003 accident that killed an Eastern student was apprehended by federal marshals last Thursday in Connecticut.

The April 9 edition of The Register Citizen, in Bantam, Conn., said Trisia A. Jones, 37,under the name Trisia Blair, was apprehended in the Torrington, Conn., home she moved into with her husband last fall.

She didn’t know there was a warrant, Jones’ attorney James Longwell told The Register Citizen reporters.

The apprehension reportedly came as a surprise to Jones, who is now awaiting extradition.

The jail time she serves in Connecticut waiting to be extradited back to Illinois will not go toward any future sentencing, Longwell said.

Jones is now being held on $250,000 bond and will have the opportunity to waive extradition May 10. If Jones does not waive extradition, Illinois has 90 days to ask Connecticut’s governor for a release.

Jones was the driver of a vehicle that veered off Route 316 and crashed into a tree. The passenger of the vehicle, Sheila Sue Henson, an Eastern student, died the next day at Urbana’s Carle Hospital of traumatic head injuries.

On Sept. 11, a Champaign County Coroner’s jury ruled Henson’s death a homicide after Coles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Sgt. Tad Freezeland testified “(Jones’) blood alcohol content was 0.22 percent. Miss Jones had the presence of cocaine in her system.”

Jones was charged Sept. 16 in Coles County with two counts of reckless homicide, alleging “(Jones), while acting in a reckless manner, performed acts likely to cause the death of or great bodily harm to some individual.”

The first count specified driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content above 0.08 percent and driving “at a speed which was greater than was reasonable and proper with regard to existing traffic conditions.” The second charged Jones with driving “under the influence of drugs and alcohol to such an extent to render (Jones) incapable of safely driving.”

After posting $5,000 bail, Jones was “released on recognizance” and issued home confinement Sept. 16.

She failed to appear at three hearings for unrelated forgery charges, two in September and a third in November.

Coles County State’s Attorney Steve Ferguson and Assistant State’s Attorney Duane Deters were unavailable for comment.