One person was killed and another was taken to hospital after a box van and a passenger vehicle collided on Illinois Route 32 in Shelby County on Thursday morning, November 12, the Illinois State Police said in an update issued on Friday, November 13.
Source: WCIA, citing Illinois State Police
The crash happened at about 10:42 a.m. at the intersection of Illinois Route 32 and County Road 100 North, near the village of Stewardson in the southern part of Shelby County. One person was pronounced dead at the scene. The second person involved was transported to a hospital; the State Police have not released how serious that person's injuries are.
Route 32 was closed at the scene for nearly four hours while troopers investigated and crews cleared the roadway. The road reopened at about 2:49 p.m. on Thursday, according to the State Police timeline reported by Local Accident Reports.
Source: Local Accident Reports, citing Illinois State Police
What police have not said yet
The State Police have released no names, ages or home towns for either person, have not said which vehicle the person who died was travelling in, and have not given any indication of what caused the two vehicles to collide. No charges or citations have been announced. The identification of the person who died is expected to come from the Shelby County Coroner's Office once the family has been notified, following the pattern of earlier fatal crashes in the county.
A corridor with a hard recent history
Route 32 is the main north–south state highway through this part of central Illinois farm country, linking Shelbyville, Stewardson and Windsor, and it carries a heavy mix of farm traffic, delivery vans and through-drivers. Thursday's crash is the latest in a series of fatal collisions on the same short stretch of the road around Stewardson.
In late December 2025, 54-year-old Bradley Pygott of Effingham was killed on Route 32 near Main Street in Stewardson when the passenger vehicle he was in collided with a semi-truck; Shelby County Coroner Beth Debolt released his name after his family was notified. In September 2026, 75-year-old Keith Rentfro of Stewardson died after a car pulled out of a Phillips 66 gas station into the path of his motorcycle on Route 32, a case detailed by the Effingham County Coroner's Office.
Source: WCIA archive reports
The corridor's record has drawn official warnings before: after three separate crashes on Route 32 in a single day — one near Windsor and two south of Stewardson, including a rollover in which a driver was pinned under a vehicle — Shelby County Sheriff Brian McReynolds publicly urged drivers to slow down and drive with caution on the highway.
Route 32 has reopened, but the State Police investigation into Thursday's crash is still open. Anyone who witnessed the collision near County Road 100 North on Thursday morning is asked to contact the Illinois State Police.
For local residents, a four-hour closure on Route 32 is not a minor inconvenience: in this part of Shelby County there is no parallel highway, so a full closure sends traffic onto narrow county roads and adds long detours for school buses, farm vehicles and ambulances alike.
What happens next
The Illinois State Police investigation remains ongoing. The next expected steps are the coroner's identification of the person who died, an update on the condition of the person taken to hospital, and the troopers' findings on how the box van and the passenger vehicle came together at the County Road 100 North intersection. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the names and the preliminary findings are released.