West Chicago teen's death ruled a homicide

A 17-year-old West Chicago youth killed while riding as passenger in a DUI crash last month also was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, authorities said Wednesday.

Cameron J. Godee, a recent graduate of St. Charles East High School, died about 4:30 a.m. June 14 when a 2005 Ford Explorer that carried three other teens went off the road and hit a mailbox and two trees on the 3100 block of Royal Fox Drive in St. Charles.

The driver, Onofrio J. Lorusso, 18, of Wayne, was charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence after he tested positive for marijuana and a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.227, police said.

Deputy Kane County Coroner Amy Renwick said at an inquest that Godee also tested positive for marijuana and showed a BAC of 0.241, which is slightly greater than three times the legal threshold for drivers of legal drinking age in Illinois.

Godee was crushed when the front passenger end of the Explorer slammed into the second tree, according to another deputy coroner, Loren Carrera. She said the vehicle was "wrapped around the tree," and it took about an hour to free Godee from the wreckage.

"We're unsure if the road surface was wet, but it had been raining and stopped sometime before the accident," Carrera said

The coroner's jury ruled Godee's death as a homicide, but did not assign blame to anyone.

Lorusso's attorney, Vince Solano, has said his client's family is "devastated," and that the accident should send a message to other teens that "it can happen to you."

Coroner's officials said the teens may have been returning from a graduation party when the crash happened. A 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy also were injured, but survived.

Lorusso has not yet entered a plea.