GURNEE, Ill. (WLS) — In a significant development, charges have been filed several months following a tragic accident in Gurnee, where investigators have identified distracted driving as a contributing factor.

The deadly incident, which occurred in April 2025, took place near the intersection of Delany Road and Sunset Avenue, according to police reports.

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Prosecutors allege that Javier Contreras-Bulnes initially fled the scene but later returned. Evidence suggests he was using an electronic device immediately before the crash.

The accident claimed the life of pedestrian Amber Knowles.

ABC7 covered a vigil held last year in memory of the 33-year-old woman, shortly after her untimely death.

Relatives said the woman who was killed would help anyone in need and was studying to be a counselor, but those dreams ended in a blur of traffic.

Police said the woman was crossing Delany Road, where there’s no light or crosswalk, when she was hit by a truck.

The woman was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. She was identified to the Lake County Coroner’s Office as 33-year-old Amber Knowles.

“I can’t even begin to imagine that this has happened,” Knowles’ sister Christina Kalter said last year. “It’s still not even real to me. I just talked to her.”

Relatives say she lived about a mile away from where she was struck.

At the time, police said the driver of the Ford E450 truck did not immediately stop after hitting Knowles but did return to the scene.

“So it’s not a hit and run crash, but instead had pulled off the roadway to a nearby business and realized that they had hit something and went back to the scene to speak with investigators about it,” Gurnee Police Department Det. Shawn Gaylor said.

Now, nearly a year after the crash, the driver, Contreras-Bulnes, is facing charges.

The Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team assisted Gurnee police in the investigation.

No further information was available.