The coroner has identified a woman who died after a five-vehicle crash on Route 47 near Huntley that also left a toddler injured and another woman seriously injured.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Huntley Fire Protection District responded around 4:29 p.m. Saturday to the area of Route 47 and Foster Road in unincorporated Huntley for a report of a vehicle crash with injuries.
Huntley Fire Protection District Acting Battalion Chief Todd Penkava said emergency crews arrived to find a five-vehicle crash.
The cars sustained moderate to heavy damage and two of them had collided head-on.
It was reported that two people were trapped in one vehicle but firefighters were able to access them without performing extrication, Penkava said.
The sheriff’s office said Monday that a preliminary investigation shows a non-involved vehicle in the crash was stopped and waiting to turn left into a private driveway from the southbound lane of Route 47 north of Foster Road.
A 2024 Honda CR-V and a 2016 Hyundai Veloster were slowing or had stopped behind the non-involved vehicle.
A 2017 Toyota Tacoma, traveling southbound on Route 47, struck the rear end of the Honda, which caused the Honda to hit the Hyundai.
Sheriff’s officials said the Toyota entered the northbound lane of Route 47, striking a 2020 Kia Niro and hitting a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander head-on as the Kia and Mitsubishi traveled in the northbound lane of Route 47.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said a passenger in the Mitsubishi, identified as Araceli Almarada-Mondragon, 55, of Pingree Grove, was transported to Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital.
Almarada-Mondragon was then transferred to a LifeNet medical helicopter, which flew her to Advocate Condell Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
Almarada-Mondragon died in the hospital on Tuesday morning while in the intensive care unit, Banek said.
A preliminary coroner’s investigation showed Almarada-Mondragon died from complications of blunt force injuries from the crash.
A 27-year-old Pingree Grove woman, who was driving the Mitsubishi, was transported to Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital with serious injuries.
Sheriff’s officials said a 35-year-old man, the driver of the Toyota, and a 2-year-old boy, who was a passenger in the Toyota, were transported to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin and later released.
Six other people involved were evaluated at the scene by paramedics and did not require transport to the hospital.
The Lakewood Police Department, Huntley Police Department, Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District and Woodstock Fire/Rescue District assisted at the scene.
Route 47 was shut down for several hours while the sheriff’s office conducted an investigation.
The investigation remains ongoing by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Major Traffic Crash Investigation Unit.