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Krista A. Woltz-Hernandez

Age : 44

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 12/12/2022

Location : U.S. Route 45 at 1190 North Road

City : Paxton

County : Iroquois

State : Illinois

Agency : Paxton Police Department; Ford County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Driver killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON FOR CHASE:
Not publicly disclosed. Paxton police officers and Ford County sheriff’s deputies were pursuing Woltz-Hernandez southbound on U.S. Route 45, but Illinois State Police declined to disclose why the pursuit had been initiated, stating that the investigation remained open.
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NARRATIVE:
On 12/12/2022, 44-year-old Krista A. Woltz-Hernandez of Buckley was killed when the Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 she was driving crashed during a police pursuit on U.S. Route 45 in southern Iroquois County. Uninvolved driver Julie L. McGowan, 65, of Rantoul was also killed.
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At approximately 5:12 p.m., Woltz-Hernandez was traveling south on U.S. Route 45 near 1190 North Road while being pursued by officers from the Paxton Police Department and Ford County Sheriff’s Office. The crash location was approximately three miles south of Onarga.
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Illinois State Police did not publicly disclose what prompted officers to pursue Woltz-Hernandez. When specifically asked why police were chasing her, ISP Trooper Jayme Bufford said the investigation was open and ongoing and that no further information was available.
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During the pursuit, Woltz-Hernandez lost control of the Mercedes. It crossed the center line of U.S. Route 45 and collided head-on with a northbound 2003 Jeep Wrangler driven by McGowan.
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The initial collision caused the Mercedes to spin and strike a northbound 2004 Ford F-150 driven by a 36-year-old Onarga man. Woltz-Hernandez’s Mercedes then spun again and rolled multiple times before coming to rest on the west side of the roadway.
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Woltz-Hernandez and McGowan were pronounced dead at the scene. The Ford F-150 driver was transported to a hospital with injuries. A fourth vehicle, a Toyota Camry, drove through crash debris and sustained a flat tire.
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Illinois State Police District 21 and the ISP Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 3 investigated the pursuit and fatal collision.
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The publicly available reporting I located does not provide the pursuit’s speed, duration, distance, or the specific police action that initiated it. Those details should remain unspecified rather than inferred.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Paxton Police Department and Ford County Sheriff’s Office did not publicly identify the officer who initiated the pursuit or the other officer(s) who participated in the pursuit in the sources located.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wcia.com/news/police-pursuit-ends-in-deadly-crash-in-iroquois-county/
https://www.shawlocal.com/daily-journal/news/local/2022/12/14/2-dead-following-4-vehicle-crash-in-southern-iroquois-county/
https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/2022/12/14/car-being-pursued-by-police-causes-iroquois-county-crash-two-drivers-killed/
https://whporadio.com/whpo-blog/archives/2022-12/