Police expect to bring charges in connection with a crash on I-66 that killed one driver and sent another to the hospital over the weekend.
Troopers responded to a reported crash with injuries at 5:51 p.m. on Saturday (Aug. 2) on I-66 West at Fairfax County Parkway near Fair Lakes, according to the Virginia State Police (VSP).
Upon arriving, the trooper found “an old Nissan pickup truck fully engulfed” in flames on the left shoulder of the I-66 Express Lanes. The driver, who was trapped inside the truck, died at the scene of the crash.
In an update on Monday (Aug. 4), the VSP identified the pickup truck driver as Will R. Hernandez-Villalta, 20, of Manassas.
The crash also involved a 2016 Honda Pilot SUV. The driver, identified by police as 38-year-old Chantilly resident Danielle M. McKinnon, and a juvenile passenger were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital with injuries described as “minor.”
Based on a preliminary investigation, police believe the crash occurred after Hernandez-Villalta stopped in a travel lane on I-66 due to “a mechanical issue.” McKinnon then struck the pickup truck in the rear, the VSP says.
“The collision caused the pickup to run off of the left side of main travel lanes, strike the bollards separating the main lanes and the Express Lanes, and then cross the Express Lanes,” the VSP said. “The pickup then came to rest on the left shoulder and caught fire. The Pilot spun and came to rest in the main travel lanes.”
The crash remains under investigation with charges “pending,” a VSP spokesperson said.
During the initial investigation, the westbound express lanes were closed, but a service road for Fairfax County Parkway that connects to I-66 remained open so westbound traffic could keep moving, according to the VSP.
According to preliminary state data, there were 21 people who died in crashes in Fairfax County this year through July. This is the second fatal crash on the county’s section of I-66 in 2025, following the death of an allegedly speeding motorcyclist near the Nutley Street interchange outside Vienna on April 27.
