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8th victim dies in hospital weeks after I-55 dust storm crash

An eighth victim has died at an area hospital weeks after the May 1 crash in Farmersville, Illinois.

FARMERSVILLE, Ill. — An eighth person has died following the 72-vehicle crash on Interstate 55 during a dust storm in central Illinois earlier this month.

The Sangamon County Coroner's Office announced that Ruth Rau, an 81-year-old woman from Sorento, Illinois, died Tuesday evening at a Springfield hospital due to multiple blunt force injuries sustained in the crash.

Ruth was a passenger in a car that crashed after Illinois State Police say blowing dust from nearby caused "complete blackout conditions" near Farmersville in Montgomery County.  

State police previously identified seven other victims killed in the May 1 crash:

  • Shirley Harper, 88, of Franklin, Wisconsin
  • Joseph Bates, 73, of Crystal Lake, Illinois
  • Donna Bates, 71, of Crystal Lake, Illinois
  • Earl LeGrand, 64, of Florissant, Missouri
  • Michael Zinchuk, 55, of Champaign, Illinois
  • Amy Zinchuk, 54, of Champaign, Illinois
  • Otto Medina-Salazar, 58, of Carthage, Missouri

Thirty-seven people were taken to local hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to critical.

Nearly 45 mph winds had picked up dirt and debris from farm fields and swirled it along the interstate, blinding drivers instantly and causing a deadly chain-reaction crash.

In the days after the crash, two vacant lots in Divernon were filled with tractor-trailers, SUVs, trucks and cars. Some vehicles were untouched, but troopers with the Illinois State Police still had them towed instead of releasing them the day of the crash. 

Other tractor-trailers, cars, trucks and SUVs were inoperable, either crushed, burned out or a mix of both. Even days after the pile-up and resulting fires, the vehicles left behind in the lot gave off a smell of burnt rubber and charred metal.

Forty ISP troopers and multiple units from surrounding agencies responded.

Rau's death remains under investigation by the Sangamon County Coroner and ISP, the coroner's office said.

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