Huntley road crewman struck by car Jan. 8 died from head trauma, coroner says

The McHenry County Coroner’s Office announced the 20-year-old Huntley man who was fatally struck by a car while working on a road in Huntley on Monday died from blunt head trauma.

Police said Joseph Zephries “was on the south shoulder of the road completing utility line location services” for U.S. Infrastructure Company, or USIC, when he was hit by a Kia Forte traveling east on Main Street in Huntley on Monday. He died from his injuries at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital.

The coroner’s office performed an autopsy on Zephries on Wednesday and preliminary results found head trauma to be the cause of death, coroner Michael Rein said in a Thursday news release. The coroner’s office is still continuing to work on the case with the Huntley Police Department, according to the release.

A GoFundMe fundraiser created by a friend of Zephries aims to cover the costs of his memorial services.

Kyle Sexton, who started the online fundraiser on Wednesday, described Zephries as “full of life” and said “there will never be another one like him.” As of Friday, he had raised more than $17,000.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the DeFiore Funeral Home in Huntley. A mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary Catholic Church in Huntley.

“In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to American Heart Association or American Cancer Society,” the obituary said.

“He was motivated, enthusiastic and always had big dreams which he knew he could accomplish,” an obituary for Zephries said.

Zephries’ girlfriend, Angelina Madrid, told the Northwest Herald he was a “true gentleman” and a “real people person.”

“Joe was raised so well,” Madrid said. “He always open[ed] and closed my car door.”

Madrid said it would be a frequent occurrence for Zephries to stop and talk with people wherever they went.

“He always made the people he was talking to feel like they mean something to him. Even if he barely knew them,” she said. “His family and I started to call him our little celebrity as a joke, but it was true.”