Coroner's jury: Fatal Huntley pileup a homicide

A Kane County coroner's jury blamed a Spring Grove truck driver Wednesday for the death of an East Dubuque woman who was killed when the truck she, her husband, and their 3-year-old son were riding in was rear-ended by his 80,000-pound semitrailer.

Tabitha Carroll, 32, died of blunt head and neck trauma in the Oct. 31 pileup on Route 47 near the Jane Addams Tollway in Huntley. Her son and husband survived.

On Wednesday, a coroner's jury declared the death a homicide after a detective testified that the driver of the semitrailer, previously identified by police as Jeffrey Repec of Spring Grove, had marijuana in his system, and that five of the 10 brakes on his truck were "inadequate for stopping and out of alignment."

Traffic had backed up on Route 47 that day, possibly because of street sweeping taking place in the area, Huntley police Detective Kevin Keane said.

The semitrailer, which was carrying grain, was traveling about 50 mph when it rear-ended a Ford F-150 truck driven by Carroll's husband, Keane said. It propelled Carroll's truck into the back of an Illinois Department of Transportation truck in front of it. All of the vehicles were headed south.

"They were completely crushed together," the officer testified. The truck driver told police "he was not paying attention and just could not stop in time."

Carroll's husband sat with his son on his lap at Wednesday's inquest as the details were recounted but declined to speak to the jury.

The case remains under investigation. No charges have been filed.