Fifth person dies as a result of Chatham afterschool program crash in late April

Posted on June 3, 2025
A memorial was set up at the site where three children and a teen died when a Jeep crashed through a building that housed an after-school program in Chatham in April. A fourth child has since died on Monday. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jade Aubrey)

By BETH HUNDSDORFER 
Capitol News Illinois 
[email protected] 

SPRINGFIELD – An 8-year-old boy is the most recent casualty of a car crash at a Chatham daycare April 28.

Bradley Lund, 8, has been in a Springfield hospital since the collision at YNOT Outdoors five weeks ago, according to Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. 

Bradley  sustained “multiple blunt force injuries” when a black Jeep driven by Marianne Akers, 44, of Chatham, drove into the lower portion of the building that housed the gymnasium and out the other side, striking children who were playing inside.

Allmon confirmed that Bradley died Monday morning.

Ainsley Johnson, 8; Kathryn Corley, 7; Alma Buhnerkempe, 7; all of Chatham, and counselor Rylee Britton, 18, of Springfield, also died as a result of the crash. 

Police said Aikers submitted blood after the crash to determine whether she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Those toxicology screenings were negative, ISP confirmed last month. ISP Director Brendan Kelly said during a news conference in May that the crash could have been caused by a medical emergency. 

The death remains under investigation by the Sangamon County Coroner and the Illinois State Police, Allmon said in his emailed release.

The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office will review the investigation, then will provide an update, according to an ISP spokesman.

No charges have been filed against Akers. 

Bradley is the son of Daniel Lund, assistant principal in the Ball-Chatham School District, and Cynthia Riseman Lund, the legislative director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. 

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