Man charged after recently-graduated high school sweethearts killed in Hoffman Estates crash

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (WLS) -- An Elgin man has been charged after recently-graduated high school sweethearts were killed in a north suburban crash on Saturday, officials said.

D'Shaun Tudela and his partner, Amelia Mazeikis, died in the Hoffman Estates crash near Barrington and Higgins roads.

Deni Rubio, 32, has been charged with reckless homicide, aggravated DUI resulting in death and attempting to disarm a peace officer, Hoffman Estates police said. He's due in court on Monday.

The victims' families gathered on Sunday night to remember them both at a Schaumburg church.

Dinner will never be the same at the family table where Krystal Tudela said her oldest son, D'Shaun, served his best meals.

"He had goals and accomplishments. He had a path," Krystal said. "This table will never be the same."

Aspiring to one day be a Japanese cuisine chef, those dreams are no more.

"What 17-year-old can cook up a slab of ribs? It's like, this year, it just won't be the same anymore," Krystal said. "He had been looking at culinary arts schools for over the past year. Those dreams and aspirations of going somewhere, that's not a reality anymore."

D'Shaun was in the passenger seat as his partner, Amelia, was driving him to work Saturday morning. That's when, his mother said, another car went through a red light near Higgins and Barrington roads, colliding with their car.

"No one or nowhere is that important to run a red light and impact so many lives," Krystal said.

Krystal said the two had just graduated Schaumburg High School, and they were a loving couple until their tragic end. They were also members of a youth program at Our Saviour's United Methodist Church in Schaumburg.

"I hope, in my mind, that they were just holding hands and were at peace together," Krystal said.

Tudela's mother said she got the devastating call that the young couple were killed in a crash while she was catching a flight home from Texas.

"Strangers just grabbed me and held me while the officer talked to me, and I just sat there delay after delay, just trying to get home," Krystal said. "Hoping he did not have to suffer. And, the fact that I was so far away makes it even harder."

Police said two other groups involved in the crash were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

On Monday, grief counselors will be available at Schaumburg High School, where the couple just graduated weeks ago.

Authorities did not immediately provide further information about the crash.