An Indiana man may serve more than a year for driving drunk in a 2023 crash that led to a woman’s death and caused serious injuries to other passengers.

On May 22, Cesar Jesus Carrillo-Castro, 31, of Indianapolis, Indiana, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence in a Dec. 4, 2023 crash in Joliet that led to the death of Joseily Yusleidi Escalona-Gomez, 25, of El Paso, Texas.

Carrillo-Castro was the driver of a Volkswagen Passat that was traveling through McDonough Street and approaching Chicago Street in Joliet, according to a court filing from Will County prosecutors.

The Volkswagen Passat disregarded a red light, struck a semitrailer and continued moving underneath the semitrailer, prosecutors said. The vehicle rotated counterclockwise before stopping at an intersection, prosecutors said.

Medical records indicated Carrillo-Castro’s blood-alcohol concentration was about 2.6 times above the legal limit in Illinois, according to prosecutors.

As part of Carrillo-Castro’s plea deal, he was sentenced to serve 85% of a four-year prison sentence. He was given credit for serving 612 days in pretrial custody. That puts his prison time closer to a year and eight months.

Carrillo-Castro and Escalona-Gomez were among five occupants of the Volkswagen Passat.

During the investigation, one of the passengers told police that Carrillo-Castro and other passengers were “drinking that night at a friend’s house before entering the Volkswagen,” prosecutors said.

The day after the crash, Escalona-Gomez was pronounced brain dead at a Cook County hospital, according to prosecutors.

One passenger suffered a fractured nose and another passenger was in a coma for months and suffers from brain damage, prosecutors said.

A fourth passenger’s injuries caused her to have to use a wheelchair and she “does not remember much of her life, including her children,” prosecutors said.

Carillo-Castro faced eight other charges of aggravated driving under the influence. Those charges were dropped as part of the plea deal.