Three people have died, and a 22-year-old Sugar Grove man has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence, after a four-vehicle crash Friday night in Kendall County, according to the Illinois State Police.
At around 9:15 p.m. July 31, Illinois State Police troopers responded to a crash on Route 71 past Walker Road south of Millbrook, a news release from the Illinois State Police said.
A 22-year-old from Sugar Grove, Carson M. Rehkopf, was driving a pickup truck southbound on Route 71 and had entered the northbound lanes to pass multiple vehicles, the state police said. His vehicle struck an SUV head-on, causing a four-vehicle crash, the release said.
One passenger in the SUV was pronounced dead at the scene, the Illinois State Police said, while the other three occupants of the vehicle were taken to area hospitals, and two — including a 4-year-old girl — were later pronounced dead. All of the SUV’s occupants were from Des Moines, Iowa.
The passenger pronounced dead at the scene was identified as Amy Lee Witter, 38, according to a news release from the Kendall County, DeKalb County and Kane County coroners. The 4-year-old girl was taken to Valley West Hospital in Sandwich but was later pronounced dead. And the third occupant who died — James Witter, 65 — was taken to Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora, but was later pronounced dead.
The causes and manners of death are pending the results of forensic autopsies that were scheduled for Sunday, per the news release from the coroners’ offices. The deaths remain under investigation by the state police and coroners’ offices.
On Sunday, the state police presented the case to the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office, and Rehkopf, who was also injured in the crash, has since been charged with six felony counts of aggravated DUI involving death, two felony counts of aggravated DUI involving great bodily harm and multiple traffic offenses, per the news release from Illinois State Police.
Rehkopf remained in custody at the Kendall County jail as of Monday afternoon, according to Kendall County detainee records.
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