St. Charles man, 82, identified in fatal Malta crash

MALTA – A St. Charles man is dead following a crash between a pickup truck the man was driving and a farm truck along Illinois Route 38 in Malta Monday.

The two-vehicle crash occurred around 5:45 p.m. Monday on Route 38 about a 1/2 mile east of Willrett Road in Malta, according to a Tuesday news release from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

William R. Cates, 82, of the first block of West 669 Hunters Hill Drive in St. Charles, was injured in the crash and taken by Malta paramedics to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, where he later succumbed to his injuries, police said.

Cates was driving a 2002 Dodge pickup truck eastbound on Route 38 behind a 1982 International truck driven by a 27-year-old Malta man who had stopped east of Willrett Road and signaled to turn into a field entrance on the north side of the road.

According to the sheriff’s office, while the farm truck was stopped, it was rear-ended by the pickup truck driven by Cates. Cates had to be extricated from the truck by Malta first responders, authorities said, and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The Malta man, 27, was not injured.

The crash remains under investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and the DeKalb County Coroner’s Office, the release states.

No arrests or citations have been announced as of Tuesday in the crash.