A 27-year-old woman, who was the mother of several children, was killed early Friday morning after the car she was in crashed into a tree and caught on fire in Waukegan.
The Waukegan Fire Department and Waukegan Police Department responded around 1:39 a.m. Friday to the 2300 block of North Sheridan Road for a vehicle crash with injuries.
Waukegan police officers arrived on the scene and found a single-vehicle crash, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Preliminary fire department radio traffic indicated that the car had crashed into a tree and caught on fire, leaving two people trapped inside of it.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banke said that one of the victims, identified as Shaneera Bell, died in the crash, which left extensive damage to the vehicle.
The Waukegan Police Department’s Crash Investigation Division and Lake County Coroner’s Office were called to the scene to investigate.
A Friday autopsy showed that Bell, 27, of Waukegan, died as a result of multiple blunt force injuries from the collision, Banek said.
It is unclear if Bell was the driver of the vehicle or the passenger. Police have not said what caused the crash.
Sheridan Road between Blanchard Road and Miraflores Avenue was closed for several hours into late Friday morning while investigators worked at the scene.