In November 2022, a tragic car accident occurred in North Peoria that killed a family of 5. A 17-year-old has now been arrested in connection to that crash that killed two adults and three children.
On November 20 around 9 p.m., two adults and 3 children were driving in a Mazda on 107th Avenue, just south of Deer Valley Road, preparing to turn left into their neighborhood traveling home from a Friendsgiving.
A Jeep being driven by a 17-year-old male, with another teen passenger in the vehicle crashed into the family’s car killing two adults, 36-year-old Elizabeth Simpson and 31-year-old Jace Hochstetler.
All three children in the car were taken to the hospital where they were died. The ages of the children who were killed were 14, 7, and 10 years old.
The teen driver of the Jeep was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Peoria police arrested the teenage driver on Thursday near 55th Avenue and West Butler Drive in Glendale. He was booked into the Durango Juvenile Detention Facility on five counts of second-degree murder.
Officials have reported that speed and impairment may have been factors in the crash.
Authorities have not announced if the boy will be tried as an adult.
