Illinois married couple dead after boat crashes into McHenry County home

MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. - A husband and wife are dead after a boat crashed into a McHenry County home Saturday evening.

At about 5:40 p.m., witnesses said an open motorboat was traveling very fast up and down the Fox River south of the Snuggery Restaurant in McHenry, weaving and cutting back and forth across the water.

The boat then left the river and hit the shoreline at a high rate of speed in the 600 block of Country Club Drive.

It traveled about 73 feet from the shoreline before coming to a rest on land. The hull of the boat was separated into two pieces, officials said.

Boat operator Timothy Mertins, a 62-year-old man from McHenry, was airlifted to Condell Medical and pronounced dead around 8:40 p.m. Saturday, according to the Lake County Coroner's Office. Initial autopsy results determined Mertins died from blunt force injuries sustained in the crash.

The female passenger, a 61-year-old woman from McHenry, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her identity has not yet been released.

Officials said the passenger and operator were a married couple.

Emergency crews spent hours combing through the wreckage.

The crash remains under investigation by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and McHenry County police.