Joliet man charged with aggravated DUI in deadly crash near I-80

A driver involved in a Joliet crash in 2023 that led to the death of a 25-year-old passenger from Texas has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence.

On Friday, Will County Judge Art Smigielski signed a warrant for the arrest of Cesar Carrillo-Castro, 29, of Joliet on nine felony charges of aggravated driving under the influence, court records show.

Carrillo-Castro is accused of driving a Volkswagen Passat while under the influence on Dec. 4, 2023, on McDonough Street in Joliet when he was involved a crash that resulted in the death of Joseil Escalonda-Gomez, 25, of El Paso, Texas.

Escalonda-Gomez was a passenger in the vehicle who was pronounced dead Dec. 5, 2023, at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

A criminal complaint alleged Carrillo-Castro’s DUI violation was a “proximate cause of the death.”

Carrillo-Castro was also accused in the criminal complaint of causing great bodily harm to three other people in the crash.

Last year, Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English said Escalonda-Gomez was among five occupants of a Volkswagen Passat who were critically injured in the crash at the intersection of McDonough and South Chicago streets.

The area is near Interstate 80.

Escalonda-Gomez was a passenger in the rear seat of the vehicle, English said. The Volkswagen Passat had struck a semitrailer truck that was heading south on Chicago Street.

“It is believed that the Passat collided under the trailer of the semitruck,” English said.