Two Chicagoans dead after crash on Edens near Skokie

Two Chicago teenagers died early Sunday in a rollover crash on the Edens Expressway in Skokie, authorities said.

A 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling northbound near Dempster Street veered off the road and into a tree around 5 a.m., Illinois State Police spokesman Juan Valenzuela said.

The victims were identified as passengers Melvin Maldonado, 18, and Magnolia Villafuerte, 16. The driver, an unidentified 18-year-old male, was taken to Evanston Hospital. Police are withholding his condition.

Valenzuela said state police continue to investigate the one-vehicle crash and wouldn't say why the driver lost control or whether alcohol played a role.

Autopsies will be conducted today, according to a Cook County medical examiner's office spokesman.