RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A funeral is planned this weekend for a Cary woman who was a breast cancer survivor. She died in a hit-and-run crash in Chicago in August.
Sophie Allen, 27, was with a friend near Wrigley Field when they were both hit by an SUV that wrecked, with the passenger and driver running after the wreck.
The tragedy happened on a sunny afternoon on Aug. 14, after Nahiomy Alvarez and her friend, Sophie Allen, had just taken a photo together in front of Wrigley Field’s marquee.
Alvarez was showing Allen, who was visiting, the city when they were walking in the 800 block of West Addison Street at around 12:30 p.m.
“A car lost control and turned right into us and somehow by some miracle I’m here and Sophie is not,” Alvarez said.
Surveillance video showed a gold BMW SUV lose control then swerve onto Fremont. The driver jumped the curb and hit the two women, before crashing into a fence.
The driver and passenger ran from the scene, police said. Just before the incident, a man in a white Jeep Renegade said he was hit by the same SUV at Addison and Halsted.
Allen suffered fatal head injuries and Alvarez suffered a concussion.
Three days after the crash, friends joined Alvarez to remember Allen. She was known as a joyful, caring person who loved to surf, travel, and play soccer.
Allen was a breast cancer survivor who just recently finished her last chemotherapy treatments in June. Allen and Alvarez met when they both worked in Washington D.C.
Alvarez is vowing to keep her memory alive and to seek justice.
“This person murdered my friend in the middle of the day in the most popular part of Chicago,” Alvarez said. “For me, across the street from a police station, it’s important to me we find closure.”
Allen grew up in Cary. She graduated from Enloe High School in Raleigh in 2012 before attending Duke University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity. Allen received a B.A. in Public Policy from the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy in 2016, according to her obituary.
“Sophie never met a stranger, and she fully lived every single second of her amazing life with unbelievable energy and joy,” her obituary said.
Allen is survived by her fiancé, her parents, and other family members.
Her funeral is planned for Saturday at 2 p.m. at Church of the Good Shepherd at 125 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, where Allen had planned to be married.
— WGN-TV contributed to this report
