Gurnee woman, 64, dies after 2-vehicle crash

GURNEE – Police are investigating a two-vehicle crash near Gurnee that left one woman dead.

About noon Nov. 20, Lake County sheriff’s deputies responded to a traffic crash with injuries on Route 41 at Stearns School Road in an unincorporated area near Gurnee, according to a news release.

Preliminary investigation shows a 2022 Hyundai driven by a 58-year-old Mount Prospect man was traveling north on Route 41. The driver began making a left turn onto westbound Stearns School Road.

At the same time, a 2020 Subaru, driven by a 64-year-old Gurnee woman, was traveling south on Route 41.

The Subaru collided with the Hyundai in the intersection, police said.

The Hyundai driver was uninjured. The Subaru driver initially appeared to have minor injuries. Shortly after arriving at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, the woman’s condition deteriorated, and she appeared to be paralyzed from the neck down. Because of the severity of the injuries, the Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit was activated.

About 7 p.m., crash investigators learned the woman, identified as Laura Walley of Gurnee, had died at the hospital. The Lake County Coroner’s Office said a preliminary autopsy showed she died from blunt force injury to the neck as a result of the crash.

The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit.