Update: The identities of the deceased and injured individuals involved in the crash have been released by Kane County officials.
Deceased are sister and brother Grace (20) and Emil (19) Diewald of unincorporated St. Charles Township. Grace was a front seat passenger and Emil a back seat passenger in the Lexus SUV the crashed into the school bus.
An autopsy was performed earlier today, and the preliminary cause of death was determined to be blunt-force trauma due to the crash. Toxicology samples were collected and sent to a forensic lab for analysis.
A GoFundMe page has been established on behalf of the Diewald family.
Two people are dead and two are in hospital after a Lexus SUV ran into a school bus in unincorporated Campton Township this afternoon.
No riders in the school bus were injured.
According to a report from the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 3:45pm this afternoon Kane County Sheriff’s Deputies and Campton Hills Police were dispatched to Empire Road near the intersection of Kings Wood Drive in unincorporated Campton Township for a report of an accident involving a school bus with injuries.
The initial investigation indicates that a 2013 Lexus SUV was traveling east on Empire Road and struck the rear of school bus with 31 students and one driver on the school bus. The school bus was from Burlington School District #301 with students from Lilly Lake Elementary.
No students were injured and all were reunited with parents and released at the scene. The bus was in the process of stopping to drop off a student at the time of the crash.
There were four occupants of the Lexus:
- Driver 18 year old male of Elgin transported to Delnor Hospital with non-life threating injuries
- Front seat passenger 20 year old female of Campton Hills deceased at the scene
- Back seat passenger 19 year old male of Campton Hills deceased at the scene
- Back seat passenger 17 year old female of South Elgin transported to Delnor Hospital and eventually air lifted to Laurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago with life threatening injuries
School Bus Driver: a 68 year old male of Campton Hills Il was uninjured
This is an active and ongoing investigation no charges have been filed and no tickets have been issued. Detectives, and crash investigators are working to determine if speed, distracted driving or if drugs or alcohol played a role in this crash.
The Kane County Coroner’s Office will be releasing the names of the deceased upon completion of the autopsies.
Burlington School District 301 is planning to have support staff in place at Lilly Lake Grade School as well as Burlington Central High School tomorrow. The deceased are both graduates of Burlington Central High School.
