Woodstock school aide ID’d as woman killed in crash that also took 2 other lives

Speed and reckless driving are believed contributing factors in a crash Sunday that killed a 47-year-old Woodstock woman, according to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.

She was identified as Amy Roeder, a classroom aide at Woodstock School District 200′s Westwood Elementary School, district spokesman Kevin Lyons said.

[ Update: DNA or dental records will be needed to ID 2 of 3 who died in crash near Woodstock: coroner ]

“She really will be missed at Westwood,” Lyons said, adding she had worked as a reading interventionist since 2021, working with small groups of students after school and full-time in classrooms daily.

“Amy Roeder was a vital part of our Westwood Elementary Community and our District 200 family both as an employee and as a parent volunteer,” District 200 said in a statement released Tuesday. “This is a terrible loss for her wonderful family and for our entire school community. We are all grieving along with the many who loved Amy.”

The district said Roeder was also “an invaluable parent volunteer in many ways at several schools.”

Two people in another vehicle involved in the crash have not yet been positively identified, according to information released Monday by the sheriff’s office, which noted alcohol containers also were found at the scene near Woodstock. The release did not say where the alcohol containers were found, or which vehicle they were identified with.

Emergency responders were called about noon Sunday to the 13400 block of Davis Road, west of Dean Street, for a three-vehicle crash.

According to investigators, a 2021 Dodge Challenger Hellcat was heading west on Davis Road when it attempted to pass a 2021 Jeep Wrangler in a posted no-passing zone. At the top of a crest in the road, the Hellcat collided with a 2022 Volvo XC 90 in the eastbound lanes. The Volvo went into the south ditch and the Hellcat spun before landing in the north ditch where it caught fire, according to the release.

The deceased woman was driving the Volvo. Her passenger, identified by Lyons as Roeder’s middle school-aged daughter, was taken by the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District to Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital and later flown to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood in serious condition. Both people in the Volvo were wearing seatbelts and the airbags deployed, according to the release.

The Jeep was hit by debris from the crash but managed to avoid hitting either if the other two vehicles. The driver and passenger were not injured, according to a release.

The Hellcat was completely engulfed in flames when emergency responders arrived about four minutes after the call, according to a release Sunday from the fire/rescue district. The two occupants were discovered once the fire was put out.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Major Crash Investigation Unit and the McHenry County Coroner’s Office continue to investigate the crash.