One person killed in crash near Galena

Authorities said one person was killed Tuesday in Jo Daviess County when their vehicle struck a tree and caught fire. Authorities are withholding the name of the deceased until family members can be notified. According to a Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Office press release, deputies were dispatched around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to West Stagecoach Trail near Heller Lane, approximately one mile east of Galena. Upon arrival, deputies found a vehicle “fully engulfed in flames” and located the occupant of the vehicle. Officials determined that the vehicle was traveling westbound on West Stagecoach Trail when it “appeared to have drifted off the right shoulder into the ditch without braking or turning.” The vehicle then apparently impacted a tree, gone airborne, landed in the ditch and been “thrown onto” the roadway, where it came to rest and caught fire. The accident remains under investigation.