Jury: Kaneland senior's death an accident

Laura Malewig says she always worried for her teenage son when he was driving or riding with friends. The morning he died, she couldn't help but tell him to be cautious on his way to Kaneland High School.

"He said to stop worrying," Malewig told a Kane County coroner's jury Wednesday at an inquest into the death of her 17-year-old son Jeff. "But a mother never stops worrying."

Her "worst fear" came true Dec. 11 when Jeff Malewig and fellow senior, Blake Denton, 17, both of Sugar Grove, were killed in a one-vehicle crash in Kaneville Township. The double fatality took place about 9:13 a.m. when Denton's car slid off northbound Harter Road and struck a tree as the two were driving to school.

At the inquest, Sheriff's Det. Jerry Krawczyk said it appeared Denton went off the edge of the road, then into a tailspin as he tried to correct the steering. The vehicle might have gone airborne, the officer said, because it struck the tree between four and six feet from the ground. Police aren't sure what caused Denton to go off the road, but Krawczyk said the teen might have hit a patch of black ice. There also was dew on the road.

"He (Malewig) suffered no pain," Krawczyk said. "It was instantaneous."

Deputy Coroner Eric West said there were no traces of alcohol or drugs in Malewig's blood. Denton's death is not being investigated by Kane County because he died at a hospital in DuPage County.

Laura Malewig described her son as a bright student who played high school baseball and was good to his friends. He could have graduated early, she said, but stayed in school to pursue athletics.

"He loved learning and was good at it," she said. "I always told him God had big plans for him."

Malewig said it was important for her to speak at the inquest so the jury would "know who Jeff was and not just his name." She broke down in tears as she described the pain of losing a child.

"We were given only 18 years with him and he changed our lives endlessly," she said. "It hurts to know that my son is a teenage driving statistic."

The death was ruled an accident.