Some of the last words Adelina Najera spoke to her 16-year-old son Freddy were warnings that he shouldn't stay out late with friends.
Just hours later, however, Freddy Najera was one of three teens killed in a Prospect Heights crash that ripped the car in two. A fourth passenger in the car – an 18-year-old man – was hospitalized and is expected to survive, according to police.
As her niece translated from Spanish. Adelina Najera said today that she asked Freddy around 10:30 p.m. not to leave their apartment with his friend, who was over for the night. But after she went to sleep, the teens did leave the apartment and were picked up by the two girls who were also involved in the crash, she said.
Adelina Najera clutched a tissue and cried as her family gathered in the Mount Prospect apartment, mourning the loss of Freddy, the Najera's only child.
Family described Freddy, who had dropped out of school, as a kind, easy-going teenager. Friends and neighbors also rallied to support the Najera family and the families of the two teenage girls, who both live in Arlington Heights. A collection of more than $700 was divided among the families to help with funeral costs, according to neighbors.
Najera said she was grateful for the support but only wished it could bring her son back.
The two others who died in the crash were Elizabeth Solis, 15, ofPark Ridge and Jessica Ferrer, 15, of Arlington Heights, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Jessica's brother, 19-year-old Danny Ferrera, said his sister and Elizabeth were best friends. Ferrera said his sister, the second of five children, loved to swim and was "a good person." He said she was a student at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect.
"She liked to make people laugh," he said.
Police said a 2002 Honda Accord that was later reported stolen was speeding east on East Camp McDonald Road, near Elmhurst Road, at 3:10 a.m. Saturday when it jumped a curb and hit two trees, splitting the car and leaving wreckage strewn across the front yards of two homes.
Three of the four teenagers were violently tossed from the car, police said. A male and a female who were found outside the car died at the scene, as did a female who was found in the vehicle. The surviving teen was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
All three victims died from multiply injuries, the medical examiner's office found. No charges have been filed
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