Peoria police are investigating “every aspect” of a head-on collision that killed a Dunlap High School student in early May, police spokeswoman Semone Roth told the Journal Star.
Nevaeh Mitchell, 18, left her job at the Grand Prairie AMC movie theater and was driving north on Orange Prairie Road when a car traveling the wrong way crashed into her white Nissan Versa on May 4 around 11:38 p.m. scene at 12:27 a.m. on May 5.
Police have not announced any charges in the four weeks since the investigation began. Roth recently told the Journal Star that the investigation is still being conducted by the police traffic unit, and that the criminal division is not involved.
As the investigation continues, Roth said police are exploring all options, including relief. Dozens of streetlights were out on Orange Prairie Road near the crash. Investigators are also investigating whether speed played a role in the wreck and are awaiting the results of a blood test from the driver who was driving a Ford Fusion on the wrong side of the road.
Lighting problem in North Peoria
About 40 streetlights on Orange Prairie Road are not working, the majority of which are on much of the southbound side of the road – the side where the driver of the Ford Fusion should have been standing. Streetlights are also out on the northern side of the road, near where the collision occurred, and extend north.
The Peoria Fire Department noted there was no indication the Ford Fusion had crossed the median on Orange Prairie Road, according to a report obtained by the Journal Star through the Freedom of Information Act.
Mitchell died at the scene. The other driver, identified in a police report as a resident of Wyoming, Illinois, was taken to a local hospital with injuries.
The city of Peoria had previously allocated $350,000 in its 2025 budget to repair streetlights on Orange Prairie Road, citing that rodents had destroyed the pipe for the streetlights. According to the project description, this has been a recurring problem since the installation of the lamps.
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Jan Craig, a 34-year-old Dunlap resident who often travels on Orange Prairie Road, said he and others in the town have been concerned about the lack of lighting on Orange Prairie for some time, fearing it could create unsafe conditions at night. circumstances could lead to.
Still, Craig said it was reassuring to hear that Peoria has a plan to replace the lights. He said he has never raised any concerns about lighting in the village of Dunlap or the city of Peoria.
Peoria City Councilman Andre Allen, whose 4th District includes that stretch of Orange Prairie Road since the 2022 redistricting, said voters have not come to him with concerns about lighting in that part of Orange Prairie.
However, he did say the other section of Orange Prairie Road, south of War Memorial Drive near Charter Oak School, was brought to his attention by residents concerned about speeding. Allen said speed cameras were added there as a result.
More: After tragic accident in Peoria, Dunlap teen remembered as ‘beautiful soul’
Mitchell was a senior at Dunlap High School and was two weeks away from graduating when the accident happened. According to her obituary, she had earned a scholarship from Loyola University and planned to attend the school in Chicago.
This article originally appeared in Journal Star: Dozens of streetlights knocked out in fatal crash involving teen in Peoria
