Police say an 8-year-old boy died months after a crash at a Chatham, Illinois, creche that killed three other kids and a teen.
The Springfield boy, Bradley Lund, was declared dead just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to Jim Allmon, the coroner for Sangamon County.
Allmon said that Lund was at HSHS St. John’s Hospital after getting hurt in the crash in a number of ways. His death is still being looked into.
The accident took place on April 28 in Chatham, which is close to Springfield. A car went through the Y.N.O.T. Outdoors nursery and after-care centre.
“On Monday, April 28, 2025, a vehicle left the road for unknown reasons, travelled through a field and into the east side of the YNOT After School Camp located at 301 Breckenridge Road in Chatham,” ISP said in a statement.
Four kids were killed: Ainsley Grace Johnson, 8, also known as “Squirt”; Alma Buhnerkempe, 7; and Kathryn Corley, 7. Ainsley Grace Johnson was from Springfield and was 18 years old. ISP said that six more children were hurt and taken to a nearby hospital.
At the time of the accident, the driver wasn’t drunk, but her lawyer said she did have a medical problem behind the wheel.
Attorney W. Scott Hanken in Springfield says that the 44-year-old woman, who cops have named Marianne Akers, had a seizure before the crash. It wasn’t clear right away what caused the seizure, though.
The only person in the car at the time of the crash was Akers. She wasn’t hurt in the accident, but she was taken to a nearby hospital to be checked out.
Brendan Kelly, the director of the Illinois State Police, had said before that there was proof that the driver of the car may have had a medical episode before the crash.
“Some evidence has been found that suggests a medical emergency may have happened before the crash.” “However, the investigation into this information and other evidence has not yet come to an end,” Kelly said. This was the first time that someone talked about a possible reason of the terrible crash. “And we and will continue until all leads and research has been exhausted throughout this state police investigation.”
Police said that drug and drink tests did not show any problems.
“At this time, we can report initial preliminary toxicology test results were negative for alcohol and negative for controlled substances,” said Kelly. “The analysis is a comprehensive panel that tested negative for all forms of alcohol, including negative for acetone, negative for ethanol, negative for isopropanol and negative for methanol, as well as negative for controlled substances, including negative for benzodiazepine, negative for amphetamines, negative for cocaine, negative for opiates, negative for cannabinoids, negative for phencyclidine.”
A car went through a Chatham creche, and now there is an investigation involving several agencies. One of the people who died was only four years old. Chatham, Illinois, is about 220 miles southwest of Chicago and is near Springfield.
