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NEW BERLIN, Wisconsin. – Ben Oberto, the New Berlin man originally reported missing on Thursday, November 14, has died in a crash in Illinois.

The New Berlin Police Department, with assistance from the Illinois State Police, confirmed that on Friday, November 15, at approximately 3:40 p.m., Illinois State Police found the Oberto’s vehicle overturned in a creek, the result of a single-vehicle accident. near eastbound I-90 to northbound I-294 near Chicago O’Hare.

The driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene and was later identified as Benjamin Oberto.

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The crash is currently under investigation by the Illinois State Police.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.

Original story (reported Friday)

A New Berlin woman is searching for answers after her husband disappeared during a work trip to Illinois earlier this week.

Ben Oberto, a father of two, was last seen leaving a restaurant in Crystal Lake. His wife said no one had heard from him or seen him since Wednesday evening, November 13.

“I miss him. I miss him a lot,” Laura Leatherberry said. “I just want him to be alive, and I don’t know.”

Leatherberry said she last spoke to her husband around 6 p.m. Wednesday. He told her he was working and was “probably going to be home in a few hours.” After not hearing from him, she tried to call him around 10 p.m.

“I called my husband and the message went straight to voicemail,” she said. “I just knew something was wrong.”

Oberto is a wine representative. Surveillance video showed him leaving the 1776 restaurant in Crystal Lake shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday. He walked to his car – a 2019 Subaru Impreza with Wisconsin license ANJ-2349 – and used his I-PASS at the Elgin toll booth around 9:30 p.m. His phone rang for the last time in Rosemont 15 minutes ago later.

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“We don’t know what happened to him in Rosemont,” Leatherberry said.

Chronology

• I traveled for a working dinner at 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake, Illinois on Wednesday, November 13th.
• Surveillance video shows he left Restaurant 1776 at 8:56 p.m. and his car left the parking lot at 9:02 p.m.
• Paid his last toll using his I-PASS at 9:27 p.m. at Plaza 9 – Elgin, eastbound and using I-90 to get to I-94, where his iPhone pinged for the last time at 9:47 p.m. in Rosemont, Illinois.

Police determined that Oberto never took a flight or entered O’Hare International Airport, but his phone died. Police also checked the area and found no trace of Oberto, his vehicle or his phone at any businesses, hotels, morgues or hospitals.