The Chicago suburb of Berwyn is grieving this week following the sudden and heartbreaking loss of one of its own.
Anthony Almaraz, a 28-year-old Berwyn, Illinois resident, passed away on Monday, May 25, 2026, after sustaining fatal injuries in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 80 West near Briggs Street in Joliet.
He was pronounced dead at 12:08 p.m. at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. He was 28 years old.
According to the Will County Coroner’s Office, under the authority of Coroner Laurie H. Summers, the crash occurred on westbound I-80 approximately 2,000 feet east of Briggs Street in Joliet.
An autopsy was conducted the following day, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. The final cause and manner of death are still pending the results of autopsy, police, and toxicological reports.
The Illinois State Police are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the collision.
A Father, a Friend, a Familiar Face in the Community
Those who knew Anthony are not holding back in sharing what made him so special. Friends and community members have taken to social media to express their grief, describing him as a good person with a warm spirit and a deep love for his child.
One person who knew him wrote simply that he was a good kid and a great father, words that cut through the noise and say everything about the kind of man Anthony was. For those in his circle, the loss feels both sudden and immense, the kind that leaves a silence that is difficult to fill.
Anthony was young, just entering what should have been some of the most fulfilling years of his life.
He was a father, and by all accounts, he took that role seriously. The people who watched him grow up and build his life in Berwyn are now left to process a grief that no one was prepared for.
A Neighborhood Left to Grieve
Berwyn is a close-knit community on the western edge of Chicago, the kind of place where people know their neighbors and where loss ripples outward quickly.
Word of Anthony’s death spread fast, and the response from people in the area reflected just how wide his reach was. Online tributes began pouring in almost immediately after news broke, with many expressing disbelief and sorrow.
Crashes like the one that claimed Anthony’s life are jarring reminders of how quickly everything can change. A Monday afternoon, a stretch of highway, and a family is forever altered. A child grows up without a father. Friends carry a loss they never expected to carry so soon.
The investigation into the crash remains ongoing, and the community is waiting for answers while simultaneously trying to hold one another up through the mourning. For now, the focus remains on honoring the memory of a young man who, by every account, gave those around him reasons to smile.
Anthony Almaraz was 28 years old. He was a son, a father, and a friend to many. Berwyn is not the same without him, and those who loved him are making sure the world knows exactly who he was.
He will not be forgotten.
