Nun blamed for death of teen in Route 72 crash

A young nun was blamed Wednesday for causing the death of a 16-year-old Dundee-Crown High School honor student on Oct. 7.

A Kane County coroner's jury ruled that the death of Keith P. Forbes II was accidental.

But it also placed fault on the driver of a Ford E350 van that ran a red light as it headed south through the intersection of Randall Road and Route 72 and struck a 1993 Honda Civic.

Marie Myriam Marot, a 23-year-old nun from the Fraternite de Notre Dame in Chicago, received citations for disobeying a traffic control device and failure to yield to avoid an accident.

Elgin police officer Lawrence Jenco said Marot voluntarily submitted to a blood test, but results were not available yet.

"There was no indication drugs or alcohol played a part in (the crash)," Jenco said.

Marot was headed back from a bakery in Algonquin where she volunteered.

Jenco added that three witnesses told him they saw the van run a red light going south on Randall at about 12:18 a.m.

Forbes was a backseat passenger in the Civic, which was going west on Route 72.

Amy Renwick, deputy coroner, said Forbes did not have any drugs or alcohol in his system.

Forbes' mother, Renita Forbes, said Keith was the youngest of seven children.

He volunteered to travel to New Orleans to help Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild their homes. He also was active in his church and children looked up to him as a role model.

"He was a fun-loving kid," Renita Forbes said. "He helped so many others."

The intersection where the accident happened was named one of Kane County's most dangerous intersections last year. It's had more than 100 crashes since 2002.