Tragic Urbana Car Accident Claims Life of Infant Cece Hu, Mother Evelyn Huang Speaks Out
On March 13, 2025, a catastrophic car accident in Urbana, Illinois, irrevocably altered the lives of Evelyn Huang and her family. As Huang drove home from her daughters’ dance class, her vehicle was violently struck at the intersection of Philo Road and Colorado Avenue by Kartila Brooks, who disregarded a four-way stop. The collision claimed the life of Huang’s two-month-old daughter, Cece Hu, and left Huang and her two older daughters, ages 9 and 10, with serious injuries. Huang, enduring two fractured vertebrae and a fractured sternum, recalled the haunting aftermath: “I remember it was this very nice nurse who held Ce outside the passenger window and she was just holding her and Ce was limp as if she was asleep.” Despite heroic efforts to save her, including a desperate helicopter transfer to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Cece succumbed to a devastating brain injury.
The profound loss has left Huang and her husband, Yih-Chun Hu, grappling with grief as they support their injured daughters and navigate an uncertain future. “Everything looks the same but nothing is bright anymore,” Huang expressed, reflecting the family’s struggle to reconcile their love for their surviving children with the void left by Cece’s death. They have turned to grief groups for solace and created a memorial website to honor Cece’s brief but cherished life. Meanwhile, Kartila Brooks faces severe legal consequences, having been charged with four felony counts of aggravated driving under the influence of drugs—her THC levels exceeding the legal limit at the time of the crash. If convicted, Brooks could face up to 50 years in prison, a somber footnote to a tragedy that has forever marked the Huang family.
