HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (WLS) — An Elgin man has been charged after his recent high school graduate girlfriend was killed in a crash in the northern suburbs on Saturday, officials said.
D'Shaun Tudela and his partner, Amelia Mazeikis, were killed in the Hoffman Estates crash near Barrington and Higgins streets.
Deni Rubio, 32, has been charged with reckless homicide, aggravated DUI resulting in death and attempted to disarm a peace officer, Hoffman Estates police said. He is scheduled in court on Monday.
Families of the victims gathered Sunday night to remember them both at a Schaumburg church.
Dinner will never be the same at the family table where Krystal Tudela says her eldest son, D'Shaun, serves up his best food.
“He has goals and achievements. He has a path,” said Krystal. “This table will never be the same.”
Aspiring to one day become a chef of Japanese cuisine, that dream is no more.
“What 17-year-old kid can cook a plate of ribs? Looks like, this year, it won't be the same again,” said Krystal. “He has been looking at culinary arts school for the last year. Dreams and ideals are going somewhere, they are not a reality anymore.”
D'Shaun was in the passenger seat as his partner, Amelia, drove him to work on Saturday morning. It was then, her mother said, that another car went through a red light near Higgins and Barrington Streets, colliding with theirs.
“No person or place is so important as to run a red light and impact so many lives,” Krystal said.
Krystal said the two had just graduated from Schaumburg High School, and they were a couple who loved each other until their tragic end. They are also members of the youth program at the United Methodist Church of Our Savior in Schaumburg.
“I hope, in my mind, they just hold hands and are at peace together,” said Krystal.
Tudela's mother said she got the distressing call that the young couple had died in an accident while she was catching a flight home from Texas.
“A stranger just grabbed me and hugged me while the officers talked to me, and I just sat there trying to get home,” Krystal said. “Hope she doesn't have to suffer. And the fact that I'm so far away makes it even more difficult.”
Police said the other two groups involved in the crash were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
On Monday, a grief counselor will be available at Schaumburg High School, where the couple just graduated a few weeks ago.
Authorities did not immediately provide further information about the crash.