4 killed in western Ill. crash

A one-car accident has killed a family of four whose vehicle was pulled from an icy lake in west central Illinois, according to Illinois State Police.

The fatal crash, which happened in Hancock County, was reported to the Hamilton Police Department at about 9 a.m. Sunday, state police said.

Officers arriving at the scene found a tan 1998 Dodge two-door vehicle "resting upside down, protruding through the ice and partially submerged in a small lake," according to a statement released Sunday by Illinois State Police.

State police said the four bodies were discovered in the vehicle after it was removed from the small lake in Hamilton, which is near the Mississippi River.

Those killed in the crash were identified as Carthage residents: Kevin Elliott, 38, Tasha Elliott, 36, Wyatt Elliott, 11, and Madison Elliot, 7.

Autopsies on the four are scheduled for Monday, and a future inquest will determine the causes and manners of death, according to Hancock County Coroner Kendall Beals.

Tasha Elliott was the principal of Hamilton Elementary School, according to a story posted Sunday on the (Peoria) Journal Star's Web site.

She taught at the school for more than a decade and then served as the school's principal, according to a posting on the school Web site. Elliott received her degree in teaching and school administration from Western Illinois University in Macomb.

A message left Sunday for Hamilton Community Consolidated School District No. 328 was not immediately returned.

The Hamilton Police Department and the Hancock County Sheriff's Office, which assisted on the investigation, declined to comment on the accident late Sunday.

State police said the crash remained under investigation.

A message seeking further details was left late Sunday for Illinois State Police Trooper Ed Howard and not immediately returned.