A 47-year-old woman was arrested on murder and attempted murder charges after she intentionally caused a car accident, police say.
On Tuesday, the Pike County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Facebook that officers responded to a vehicle collision on U.S. route 54 near Atlas Hill in Illinois on July 24.
'Her plan was to kill all three of them. ... Her plan was to kill herself, and she was afraid of dying alone.'
Three occupants of a passenger vehicle crashed head-on into a semitruck pulling a trailer.
The occupants of the Toyota RAV4 were transported to different hospitals, where one passenger died from her injuries.
After an investigation, police determined that the driver, Jamie Rhode of Griggsville, had purposely steered into the semitruck in an attempt to kill the two passengers and herself.
The passenger who died was identified as 73-year-old Cherie K. Wells of Pittsfield, who was Rhode's mother.
The other passenger was identified as Rhode's teenage son, who was injured but survived.
Pike County Sheriff David Greenwood told People magazine that Rhode had just picked up her mother from a nursing home before she drove into the truck.
"Her plan was to kill all three of them," Greenwood said. "Her plan was to kill herself, and she was afraid of dying alone."
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The driver of the semitruck was not injured.
Rhode was booked into the Pike County Jail on Tuesday.
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