{"id":250512,"date":"2026-07-23T19:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T19:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/250512\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T19:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T19:11:06","slug":"44-year-old-woman-dead-after-crash-in-allentown-driver-charged-with-illegal-gun-possession-allentown-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/250512\/","title":{"rendered":"44-year-old woman dead after crash in Allentown; driver charged with illegal gun possession | Allentown Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio said one of the two people who were injured after a high-speed crash that led to a vehicle hitting a home in Allentown has died.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This comes as a man involved in the crash is being charged with burglary and illegal possession of a firearm.<\/p>\n

Kandi Jo Heller, 44, of Slatington, was pronounced dead Wednesday shortly before 10 p.m., Buglio said in a news release.<\/p>\n

Buglio said the cause of death is blunt force injuries, and the manner of death is accident.<\/p>\n

The crash happened shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of North 6th Street and Cedar Street, according to Buglio.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office & Forensic Center, we extend our sincere condolences to Ms. Heller’s family and loved ones as they mourn this tragic loss,\u201d Buglio said.<\/p>\n

Authorities say that at approximately 1:06 p.m., troopers from the Bethlehem Station were dispatched to the scene for a reported crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A car went through a stop sign and broadsided another car.\u00a0 The car that was hit then struck a home near the intersection of the crash due to the impact, officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upon investigation, it was determined that a car operated by a 24-year-old Allentown man was driving at a high rate of speed when it blew through the stop sign, according to state police.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The man,\u00a0Kevin Abdiel Santiago, has been charged with burglary, receiving stolen property, and possession of firearm prohibited, Pennsylvania\u00a0State Police said in a news release.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, Santiago was charged in connection with multiple burglaries across Lehigh and Northampton counties, including the theft of 15 firearms from a licensed gun dealer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santiago is accused of burglarizing a South Whitehall Township business on July 10 and Tammy and Andy’s Guns in Allen Township on July 12, the criminal complaint details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigators said the first burglary happened at CreativeLike.us<\/a> on North 24th Street, where surveillance video showed a man wearing a black neck gaiter entering through a door on the south side of the building and stealing two older-model iPhones and $2 in cash before fleeing.<\/p>\n

The stolen phones were later found outside the building, authorities said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two days later, police say a masked suspect broke into Tammy and Andy\u2019s Guns through the rear door of the garage, stealing 15 firearms, along with cash and other property. The total value lost is approximately $10,400, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video captured the suspect making multiple trips into the building before loading the stolen guns into a waiting vehicle.<\/p>\n

Investigators said surveillance footage from a Wawa in Allen Township showed the license plate of the vehicle seen near both burglary scenes and led them to a black Chevrolet Suburban registered to Santiago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santiago’s car registration says he lives in the 1600 block of West Tremont Street in Allentown, according to the complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police conducted surveillance in the area of his address on July 16, located his vehicle at approximately 4:43 p.m., and conducted a traffic stop after running the registration which came back as being Type F suspended, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Investigators found a ski mask consistent with the one used during a burglary and several iPhones inside his car during a consensual vehicle search conducted during the traffic stop, the complaint details.<\/p>\n

Officers told Santiago to update his vehicle information and was released, officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santiago has prior felony convictions for burglary and receiving stolen property in 2018, making him prohibited from possessing firearms, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Police say that on Wednesday, Santiago ran from the scene after the crash and hid in the neighborhood for more than a half hour before he was caught by troopers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both occupants of the car that was struck were taken to a local hospital for their injuries, authorities said. One of them,\u00a0Heller, died Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

In addition to the coroner’s office, the Pennsylvania State Police Bethlehem Station Patrol Unit and Criminal Investigation Unit, and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office are investigating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio said one of the two people who were injured after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,6977,107073,433,1224,107072],"class_list":["post-250512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-fatal-crash","tag-kandi-jo-heller","tag-lehigh-county","tag-pennsylvania-state-police","tag-vehicle-into-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}