An attorney representing the driver who crashed into an Illinois daycare, killing three children and a teenager, last week, says she was not intoxicated at the time of the crash, but did suffer a medical emergency behind the wheel.
According to Springfield attorney W. Scott Hanken, the 44-year-old woman, identified by police as Marianne Akers, suffered a seizure in the lead-up to the Chatham, Illinois, crash. It was not immediately clear what caused the seizure, however.
Akers was the only person inside the vehicle at the time of the crash. She was not injured in the incident but was transported to an area hospital for evaluation.
Late last week, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said some evidence suggested the driver of the vehicle may have suffered some sort of medical episode leading up to the crash.
“Some evidence has been developed indicating the possibility of a medical emergency leading up to the crash. However, the investigation of this information and other evidence has not yet concluded,” Kelly said, marking the first comments about a potential cause of the tragic crash. “And we and will continue until all leads and research has been exhausted throughout this state police investigation.”
Police on Thursday said toxicology reports came back negative for drugs and alcohol.
“At this time, we can report initial preliminary toxicology test results were negative for alcohol and negative for controlled substances,” Kelly said. “The analysis is a comprehensive panel that tested negative for all forms of alcohol, including negative for acetone, negative for ethanol, negative for isopropanol and negative for methanol, as well as negative for controlled substances, including negative for benzodiazepine, negative for amphetamines, negative for cocaine, negative for opiates, negative for cannabinoids, negative for phencyclidine.”
According to police, the driver was not in custody as of Thursday and no charges had been filed.
Police previously said they did not believe the crash was a “targeted” attack.
“There’s just no evidence that would indicate that this was something was intended as some type of mass violence or terrorist attack or something along those natures,” Kelly said. “Absolutely nothing to indicate that whatsoever.”
The updates came less than one week after three children and a teen were killed when the vehicle crashed through the Y.N.O.T. Outdoors daycare and after-care center in Chatham.
“On Monday, April 28, 2025, a vehicle left the road for unknown reasons, traveled through a field and into the east side of the YNOT After School Camp located at 301 Breckenridge Road in Chatham,” ISP said in a release.
Among the children killed were 8-year-old Ainsley Grace Johnson, also known as “Squirt”; 7-year-old Alma Buhnerkempe; 18-year-old Rylee Britton, of Springfield; and 7-year-old Kathryn Corley, of Chatham.
“She was larger than life and will forever leave a void in our broken hearts,” Ainsley’s father, Todd Johnson, said in a statement to NBC Tuesday.
Similarly, Alma’s family said she was a “ray of sunshine everywhere she went.”
“She was sweet, outgoing, silly, and funny. She loved her friends and family fiercely,” her mom Billie Buhnerkempe told NBC. “She loved playing soccer, basketball, and doing gymnastics. She loved to travel, and went to 17 states in her short life. Her brother Will has autism, and she loved and supported him the only way a big sister could.”
The founder of Y.N.O.T. Outdoors, Jamie Loftus, said in a statement the “unforetold tragedy” began just before 3:30 p.m. Monday when “a large SUV vehicle, travelling westbound on Walnut, through Chatham, left Walnut Street, at a substantial distance away from YNOT.”
“It travelled through a 78-acre farm field, arcing into a path that security cameras observed, showed it heading to our building at a high rate of speed,” Loftus wrote. “With no apparent attempt to alter its direction, the vehicle crossed North Breckenridge and the sidewalk, continuing into our parking lot and into the East wall of our building. The vehicle exited the building on the West side, crossing the gravel road access to the Chatham Water Tower, then lodging itself against a power-pole and ballfield fence.”
According to ISP, the car struck numerous individuals before exiting out the other side of the building.
Six additional children were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries, ISP said. At least one remained in critical condition.
“I cannot gather the words to express much of anything that will make sense in print. However, I do know that our families who suffered loss and injury today, are hurting very, very badly,” Loftus wrote. “They are friends and their kids are like our kids. The Village of Chatham and Ball Chatham Schools are going to need their populations and that of the outside world to love them, pray for them, think of them and, at the same time, give them space and respect.”
Kelly said the incident weighed heavy on the officers who responded.
“The men and women of the ISP respond to crashes every day from one end of the state to the other. They investigate cases involving the loss of life. Our people and all first responders are tough. But when a child dies, when children die, it weighs on their hearts and their minds and their souls,” he said.
Chatham, Illinois, near Springfield, is located approximately 220 miles southwest of Chicago.
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