The Illinois dad whose wife, four kids and young family friend were killed in a head-on highway crash has also died, making him the eighth fatality in the horrid weekend smash.
Thomas Dobosz, 32, was initially airlifted to a hospital in critical condition after the Chevrolet van he was driving smashed head-on with an Acura TSX that was heading the wrong way on Interstate 90 around 2 am Sunday, Illinois State Police said.
Both vehicles “became engulfed in flames,” killing the 22-year-old Acura driver, Jennifer Fernandez, as well as Dobosz’s wife and four kids, along with a 13-year-old family friend who was with them.
But the dad was also “subsequently pronounced deceased,” police said in an update Wednesday, confirming that all involved were now dead.
An online fundraiser that has collected more than $100,000 per Thursday also shared the news “with a heavy heart.”
“Tom has gained his angel wings and is now with his amazing wife Lauren and precious children,” the fundraiser said, asking for people to “keep this family in your prayers.”
Fernandez had been alone in the Acura at the time of the accident, which is still under investigation, cops said. It’s unclear why the Acura TSX was heading the wrong way.
She was pronounced dead at the scene along with all seven passengers in Dobosz’s van, police said.
The fundraiser identified them as his 31-year-old wife, Lauren Dobosz; their children, Ella, 5, Nicholas, 7, Lucas, 8, and Emma, 13; and the teen’s friend Katriona Koziara, who was also 13. The family, from suburban Chicago, had just started traveling to Minnesota for a vacation before the smash in rural Riley.
A separate fundraiser for Katriona said “she was in the prime of her youth and always seen with a smiling face and positive attitude.”
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