24-03-2025
Dump truck driver runs from crash scene and is found dead a day later, IL cops say
A dump truck driver ran from a crash scene while abandoning his vehicle in a ditch and was found dead a day later, Illinois deputies said.
Witnesses watched the man flee the Hanna City scene on March 21, but deputies couldn't find the driver, the Peoria County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
The following day, nearly four hours later at around 2:30 a.m., a local business called deputies and said it found a person not breathing behind its dumpsters, deputies said.
The person was identified as the dump truck driver, 39-year-old Keith Siegel, according to the news release.
Investigators reviewed camera footage and believe the man fell from a retaining wall and hit his head, according to deputies.
Siegel was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man from Elmwood is remembered as a 'loving husband and father,' according to his obituary.
'When not spending time with his family, he spent most of his time at Peoria Speedway or working on his B-Mod car,' Siegel's obituary said. 'He was a two-time points Champion, securing multiple feature wins in his career.'
The incident remains under investigation, and an autopsy is scheduled, officials said.
Hanna City is about a 180-mile drive southwest from Chicago.
