Suburban Students Killed In Crash While Visiting Friends Downstate

URBANA, IL — Two college students from the north suburbs were killed last week in a crash while visiting friends downstate, according to reports.

Katherine Abraham and Chloe Polzin were traveling in a Honda Civic that was struck from behind by the speeding driver of a Mitsubishi SUV while at a red light shortly before 2 a.m. Jan. 19 at University and Coler avenues in Urbana, police said. Three other people in the car were injured, according to police.

The driver of the Mitsubishi, 29-year-old Julio Cucul Bol, fled on foot, but was captured Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Service in Milford, Texas, riding a bus bound for Matamoros, Mexico, police said. He had falsified Mexican paperwork and was using an alias but later admitted to being a citizen of Guatemala, police said.

Cucul Bol is charged with two counts of reckless homicide, two counts of leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, and aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death, according to police.

Polzin, 21, a Deerfield High School graduate, and Abraham, 20, a Glenbrook South High School graduate, both played for the suburban East Side Water Polo Club until 2022, The News-Gazette reported.

Polzin was a student-athlete at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Abraham went to Ohio University, according to the newspaper.

Abraham’s father told WGN he hoped to see Cucul Bol receive the maximum prison sentence and then be removed from the country.

“Katie was such a personality. She was so witty, so clever,” Joe Abraham told the outlet. “It’s like it’s not real. It’s devastating; it’s not anything you expect or prepare for.”