Updated story
Four high school students are dead after their car apparently crashed through a guard rail Monday night and overturned into a creek in rural Will County, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.
A school bus driver noticed a busted guard rail on Ballou Road in Wilmington, Ill. around 7:20 a.m. Tuesday,, according to the Sun-Times.
The driver could reportedly see the back wheels of the car sticking out from Forked Creek.
When police responded to the scene, ABC Chicago reports bodies of the four Wilmington High School students — two female and two males — were found inside.
Late Monday, the Will County Coroner identified the crash victims as 14-year-old Matthew Bailey, 15-year-old Cody Carter, 17-year-old Cheyenne Fender and 15-year-old Micalah Sembach, according to the Associated Press.
The Tribune reports after all four teens left their homes Monday evening, their families lost contact with them via phone and text after around 7:30 or 8 p.m.
Sembach's aunt reportedly called Fox Chicago to report her niece missing before she was aware the girl was a victim in the fatal crash. The Will County Sheriff's office confirmed a family reported their child as missing to WIlmington police, but did not specify if the family was Sembach's.
A Will County sheriff's spokesman said it appears the driver hit a patch of water or ice and lost control, reports the AP. According to the coroner, the car registered to Fender, though authorities are still investigating who was behind the while during the crash.
Just one day earlier, a suburban Chicago man died Monday after his car plunged into a retention pond in Romeoville, Ill.
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