This browser does not support the Video element.
Mom wants answers after fatal crash involving migrant
A mother is demanding answers after her son died in an overnight crash on Lake Shore Drive. An undocumented migrant owned the vehicle and, she says, he has not been held accountable. Tia Ewing investigates.
CHICAGO - A Chicago mother says her life changed forever in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, when a violent crash on South Lake Shore Drive killed her 23-year-old son and his best friend.
What we know:
Stephanie Hartley is now demanding answers — and accountability — after her son, Prince Jamel Sullivan, was killed in a fiery crash she believes should have led to immediate arrests.
"When you saw that name on that police report," Hartley said, "the first thing that came to my mind was, ‘He’s a f**ing immigrant. He’s an immigrant.’ That’s the only thing that came to my mind. I just can’t believe my baby’s not here."
Hartley says she woke up around 4:30 that morning with a feeling she couldn’t explain.
"I just woke up coughing and I didn’t know why," she said.
By sunrise, her worry turned into panic.
"I just couldn’t take it," Hartley said. "I just got up and something drove me to 39th where the accident was. Looking at the tires, I felt that was my baby’s car."
Police initially told her the burned-out vehicle was not her son’s. Hours later, officers arrived at her home.
"When they told me it was my son, I asked, ‘Can I see him?’" Hartley said. "They told me there was nothing to see. I couldn’t hold my baby. I couldn’t do nothing for my baby. I had to take a DNA test to prove that I was his mom."
The backstory:
According to police, the crash occurred just before 4:30 a.m. in the 3900 block of South Lake Shore Drive.
According to preliminary information, a Kia Forte was speeding and ran a stop sign before slamming into a stalled Chevy Malibu with its hazard lights on. The impact sparked a fire, killing both occupants of the Malibu — Prince Sullivan and his high school friend — at the scene.
Superior Ambulance EMTs witnessed the crash.
The registered owner of the Kia is Miguel Angel Navarrete Palacios. Police say he told investigators he was not driving at the time and claimed a friend — someone he said he had just met — was behind the wheel.
That man, later identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner as Isias Rodriguez, was unconscious at the scene and later died at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Rodriguez had been staying at a hotel in Burr Ridge, authorities said.
The other side:
Hartley disputes the account given to police.
"He’s claiming he wasn’t the driver of the vehicle," she said. "Which I believe he was the driver, and he’s trying to put it off on the person that died."
Hartley believes her son’s case is being ignored because of who her son was and who she believes the driver is.
"Since he’s a young Black man, they probably think he had no education, no family that cared," she said. "They just gonna throw it under the rug and think I’m gonna let it go."
She also believes the driver’s immigration status is affecting how the case is being handled.
"They’re protecting him," Hartley said. "I won’t trust it just in case he tries to leave. That’s not right — to bring somebody over here and let them get a slap on the wrist. My baby deserves justice. Prince Jamel Sullivan is a man that fought. He is not a statistic."
Hartley says she has received little to no communication from detectives assigned to the case.
"The detective don’t even call, don’t reply back," she said. "It hurts because why is he getting a slap on the wrist and my baby’s not here? He had such a future, and it’s unfair."
Because of the fire, Hartley says her son was unrecognizable.
The only physical reminder she has left is a necklace recovered from the wreckage.
"So that necklace around your neck is all that you have left of your son?" she was asked.
"All I have is the old burnt on it," Hartley said. "That’s all I have."
Dig deeper:
Prince Sullivan was a 2025 graduate of Northern Illinois University, earning a degree in business management and human resources. He had recently begun his career at People’s Gas and had just moved back home.
"He excelled," Hartley said. "He joined BBSA, BMI. He was on top of it. He would get his syllabus and do his work way ahead of time so he could still work and still come home. He was the perfect son."
Hartley, a single mother of two, says her son’s success did not come easily.
"I worked three jobs to get my baby to school," she said. "Three jobs."
What's next:
As the investigation continues, Hartley says she will not stop speaking out.
For her, justice means accountability and making sure her son’s life is not reduced to a line in a police report.
"My baby was somebody," she said. "And I’m not letting them forget that."
Fox 32 learned that Miguel Angel Navarrete Palacios is insured through Kemper Insurance, a Chicago-based company that offers coverage to drivers who are undocumented. According to sources familiar with the case, Palacios attempted to file a claim with the insurance company covering Prince Sullivan’s vehicle following the crash.
Fox 32 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. DHS requested Palacios’ age, which he told us he is 34 years old.
In addition, the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office confirms it is reviewing whether Palacios holds a valid Illinois driver’s license.
The Source: This story contains reporting from Fox 32's Tia Ewing.