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‘I hope, in my mind, that they were just holding hands and were at peace together’: Krystal Tudela.

Sunday, June 11, 2023 10:22PM
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (WLS) — The mother of an 18-year-old man killed in a north suburban crash broke her silence on Sunday.
D’Shaun Tudela and his partner, Amelia Mazeikis, died in the Hoffman Estates crash on Saturday near Barrington and Higgins roads.
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.
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.
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.
The two were killed, and police said alcohol may have played a role in the crash. Police would not say if anyone was charged.
Krystal said the two had just graduated Schaumburg High School, and they were a loving couple until their tragic end.
“I hope, in my mind, that they were just holding hands and were at peace together,” Krystal said.
Police said two other groups involved in the crash were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities did not immediately provide further information about the crash.
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