PEORIA — A 17-year-old has been arrested in connection to a November crash that killed two adults and three children.
The crash happened on November 20 at about 9 p.m. near 107th Avenue and Deer Valley Road.
Two adults, identified as 36-year-old Elizabeth Simpson and 31-year-old Jace Hochstetler, died in the crash.
Four children were taken to the hospital where three of them died, according to officials. The children who died were 14, 7, and 10 years old. Friends told ABC15 the only survivor was Simpson's youngest son.
"There's a giant gaping hole in our lives that will never be the same," said Simpson's friend Kacie Franklin. "Losing her was incredibly traumatic and incredibly hard."
The young mom of three was driving home from a friend's house in November with her fiancé Hochstetler and his daughter when the crash happened.
Officials say impairment and speed may have been factors in the crash.
"Not only did I lose her, I lost two out of my three God kids," said family friend Lindsay Ewing. "I never realized how much I depend on her just for conversation. I just miss her the most."
More than four months after the crash, police arrested the 17-year-old driver.
Officials say they had to conduct interviews, wait on lab results and the medical examiner reports before making an arrest.
The 17-year-old has been booked into a juvenile detention facility, where he faces five counts of second-degree murder.
