After teen's death in wreck, Peoria police exploring all possibilities, including lighting
Peoria police are "looking into 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, was leaving her job at the Grand Prairie AMC movie theater, driving north on Orange Prairie Road when a car traveling the wrong direction struck her white Nissan Versa around 11:38 p.m. on May 4. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:27 a.m. 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 department's traffic unit, and the criminal division is not involved.
As the investigation continues, Roth said police are looking into all possibilities, including lighting. Dozens of street lights are out on Orange Prairie Road near the crash. Investigators are also looking into whether speed played a role in the wreck, as well as awaiting the results of a blood test of the driver who was on the wrong side of the road in a Ford Fusion.
Lighting issue in North Peoria
Roughly 40 streetlights on Orange Prairie Road are not working, a majority of which are on a large swath of the southbound side of the road — the side the driver of the Ford Fusion should have been on. Streetlights are also out on the northbound side of the road near where the collision happened, extending northward.
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 budget for 2025 to repair the streetlights on Orange Prairie Road, citing that rodents had destroyed the conduit for the street lighting. This has been a recurring issue since the lights were installed, according to the project description.
More: Important questions remain unanswered in crash that killed Dunlap student in Peoria
Jan Craig, a 34-year resident of Dunlap who travels on Orange Prairie Road often, said he and others in the village have been concerned with the lack of lighting on Orange Prairie for some time, worried it could lead to unsafe conditions at night.
Yet, Craig said it was reassuring to hear that Peoria has a plan in place to replace the lights. He said he has not ever brought concerns about the lighting to the village of Dunlap or city of Peoria.
Peoria City Councilmember Andre Allen, whose 4th District has included that stretch of Orange Prairie Road since redistricting in 2022, said constituents have not come to him with concerns about lighting on that part of Orange Prairie.
He did say, however, that the other portion of Orange Prairie Road, south of War Memorial Drive near Charter Oak School, has been brought to his attention by residents who worried about speeding. Allen said speed cameras were added there as a result.
More: After tragic wreck in Peoria, Dunlap teenager remembered as 'beautiful soul'
Mitchell was a senior at Dunlap High School and two weeks away from graduating when the wreck happened. She had earned a scholarship from Loyola University and planned to attend the school in Chicago, according to her obituary.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Dozens of street lights out near fatal crash involving teen in Peoria
