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A deranged Illinois driver deliberately smashed her car head-on into a semi-truck, killing one of her two passengers in a planned high-speed murder-suicide, according to cops.
Jamie Rhode allegedly crossed a double yellow line on US 54 near rural Atlas in July and crashed head-on into the truck “with the intent of killing all occupants of her vehicle,” the Pike County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday while charging her with murder.
Rhode and her two passengers were seriously hurt — and one, Cherie Wells, 73, of Pittsfield, later died from her injuries, police said.
The truck driver also suffered injuries, WGEM reported after the July 24 crash.
Rhode, of Griggsville, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, officials said.
Rhode’s relationship to the victim and why she wanted everyone in the car to die was not immediately clear.
The Pike County Sheriff’s Office and Pike County State Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for additional information.
Just last week, a Florida woman was found guilty of deliberately crashing her car into a tree along the highway at nearly 100 miles per hour, killing her boyfriend hours after she learned she was pregnant.
The case was similar to that of convicted “Hell on Wheels” killer Mackenzie Shirilla, who killed her boyfriend and his friend when she deliberately crashed her car into a brick warehouse in Ohio.
Just last month, an Ohio judge shot down Shirilla’s bid to have her case reopened — marking the end of her appeals in the state.
She is serving 15 years to life behind bars.