Five Year Old Killed in Single Vehicle Accident North of Neoga, 3 Others Injured

A five year-old Arkansas boy was killed in a single vehicle crash early Sunday morning, about 3 miles south of the Lake Land College interchange on Interstate 57. 

Illinois State Police report that a vehicle driven by Tammy D. Nelson of Pine Bluff, Arkansas was southbound on I-57 at mile marker 181, when it left the roadway, travelled in the median for about 300 feet and then returned to the southbound lanes. When the vehicle returned to the pavement, it slid sideways, rolled and came to rest on its top.

Killed in the accident was five year-old Ja-Kylen Jones, also of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The child was not in a restraint, and was partially ejected during the crash.

Nelson and two passengers, 59-year-old Rae Lyn Holt of Stuttgart, Arkansas and four-year-old Kylie White of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, were injured in the crash.  Nelson and Holt were taken to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Coles County, and White to Carle Hospital in Urbana. 

There were eight people traveling in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

It was initially reported that two vehicles were involved in the crash. However, the vehicle ahead of Nelson's SUV was not directly involved in the crash, but left the roadway after witnessing the vehicle rollover.