MONROE — Police in Stephenson County, Illinois have released the name of a 16-year-old juvenile, who died after stealing car and leading police on a chase that ended with a head-on collision last weekend. 

That driver was identified by the Sheriff’s Office as Jayden Horton, 16, of rural Freeport.

According to police, a 1998 Chevrolet pickup truck originally stolen in Jo Daviess County was spotted by its actual owner near West Avenue and Meadows Drive in Freeport just before 10 p.m. last Saturday night.

The owner reportedly confronted the 16-year-old driver and told him he had called police and that they were responding to the location. Authorities said the owner spotting his truck was a chance encounter and that he and the teen suspect did not know each other.

Before police made it to the scene, however, the teen sped away, driving east on Meadows Drive and then south on Walnut Avenue. At one point, the driver lost control of the vehicle, as it left the road at Walnut and Lamm Road, crashing head-on into a tree, causing him to be thrown from the vehicle.