Authorities are investigating the cause of a single-car crash that killed an 86-year-old St. Charles woman Sunday afternoon in a Jewel parking lot in St. Charles.

St. Charles police said the woman, identified as Marianne Hinger of St. Charles, was driving at around 4:25 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot in front of the Jewel Food store at 652 Kirk Road in St. Charles. She stopped to allow pedestrians to pass, then accelerated and struck a tree on a median head on.

The Kane County Coroner’s Office reported in a Monday press release that paramedics transported Hinger to Delnor Hospital, but she was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. Sunday.

An autopsy was performed on Monday, and preliminary findings showed multiple injuries, due to her automobile striking a fixed object, the Coroner’s Office press release said. Toxicology samples were sent to the forensic laboratory for analysis.

The cause of death remains under investigation by the Kane County Coroner’s Office and the St. Charles Police Department.

SOURCE: Kane County Coroner’s Office press release