EFFINGHAM, IL. (THECOUNT) — Virginia Abrams, Matthew Murphy and Marleen Murphy, all of Wildwood, Missouri, have been identified as the victims in a triple-fatal crash on Interstate 70 in Effingham, Illinois on Saturday.
Abrams, 59, Matthew Murphy, 63 and 61-year-old Marleen Murphy were killed in a crash that occurred on around 11 a.m. Saturday morning near Effingham, Illinois at the I-70 90 mile marker, according to Illinois State Police (ISP).
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Police say the crash involved four vehicles, including a FedEx branded semi-tractor.
Asllan Pino, 59, of Chesterfield, Michigan, who was operating a Freightliner semi-tractor, is said to have caused the chain reaction crash.
The accident happened as the vehicles were going through a construction zone. For unknown reasons, ISP says traffic came to a stop. Officials say that’s when there was a chain reaction as a Freightliner driven by Pino didn’t reduce its speed. It ran into the back of a GMC Yukon, and pushed it into a Peterbuilt’s semi-trailer. The Yukon then struck a concrete center-line before coming to a stop. ISP says a fourth semi was hit in the chain reaction, but wasn’t damaged, so it drove off, reports WANDTV.
Two more of Abrams’ passengers were injured and taken to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield for treatment.
Pino faces a preliminary charge of failure to reduce speed to avoid a traffic crash.
ISP says the investigation is continuing between ISP District 12, the Illinois State Police Traffic Crash Reconstruction unit, and the Effingham County Coroner’s office.
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Geo quick facts: Effingham is a city in and the county seat of Effingham County, Illinois, United States. Effingham is in Southern Illinois. Its population was 12,604 at the 2015 census estimate. The city is part of the Effingham, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.