Mendota 18-year-old killed in fatal traffic crash near Shabbona: Coroner

SHABBONA – A Mendota 18-year-old was killed Thursday in a traffic crash at the intersection of University Road and Route 30 near Shabbona, DeKalb County Coroner Dennis Miller confirmed.

William Morano, 18, died from injuries suffered in a crash involving his white 2022 Toyota Sedan and a black 2020 Ford SUV driven by a 65-year-old man from Aurora, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a crash near Shabbona at 6:13 p.m. Thursday.

According to the sheriff’s office, Morano’s vehicle was traveling south on University Road at Route 30 and disobeyed a stop sign at University Road, entering the intersection while the Ford SUV driven by the Aurora man was traveling west on Route 30.

The Ford SUV struck Morano’s vehicle on the driver’s side in the intersection.

DeKalb County Sheriff Chief Deputy Jim Burke said that when deputies arrived at the scene, Morano’s vehicle was off in the southwest ditch of the intersection. The Ford SUV still was partially on the road.

Burke said Shabbona fire crews arrived first and shut down the road to begin an investigation.

The Aurora man suffered minor injuries and, after talking to deputies at the crash site, was taken by Shabbona paramedics to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital.

Morano was pronounced dead at the scene by officials with the coroner’s office.

Both drivers were wearing their seat belts. The crash remains under investigation. No citations had been issued by the sheriff’s office as of Friday.

Burke said there have been some crashes at the corner of Route 30 and University Road throughout his career, but they aren’t frequent occurrences.

“Normally when there is one, it’s usually pretty serious because of the speed limit on Route 30,” Burke said.

At the intersection, vehicles traveling either south or north on University Road have a stop sign. However, drivers on Route 30 going east or west do not.

Burke said the sheriff’s office still is investigating the crash, but he stressed the need for extra caution at similar intersections.

“It’s just very, very important on these rural intersections that people take an extra moment to look both ways, especially as we start going into the harvest season,” he said. “Also because not only do we have the cars out there, we’re going to be adding farm machinery, as well, as they start getting ready.”