Friends mourning two Fenton students killed in crash

The Fenton High School community is mourning the deaths of two juniors in a single-car accident along York Road in Bensenville.

Classmates of 16-year-old Adrian O. Villegas and Jesse O. Aragon-Rodriguez, 17, are taking to the Internet to express their grief after the two teens died Monday in what police say may have been an illegal street race.

Dozens of classmates have updated their Facebook status with messages that express thoughts like "May God be with Jesse, Adrian and their families" and "No one should ever die this young." Students also have created a memorial page on the social networking site for their two friends.

Police said the teens died after the accident at 4:10 p.m. Monday when the 2002 orange Honda convertible they were riding in struck a tree and split in half on the east side of the 200 block of S. York Road. Police found Villegas and Aragon-Rodriguez unconscious when they arrived.

Witnesses said the Honda and another vehicle were traveling at high speeds north on York Road when the Honda driver lost control, drove off the road and hit the tree. The other driver continued north on York Road and did not stop, witnesses told police.

"Two cars were traveling at a high rate of speed, but we aren't certain if they were racing or following each other," Bensenville police Chief Frank Kosman said Tuesday.

Aragon-Rodriguez, of Bensenville, was pronounced dead at the scene, DuPage County coroner's officials said. He had transferred to Fenton last year from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, according to school officials.

Authorities said Villegas, also of Bensenville, was taken from the scene to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, but was pronounced dead at 4:56 p.m. while being transported. Officials from the Cook County medical examiner's office released autopsy results Tuesday afternoon, saying Villegas died from multiple injuries suffered in the accident.

Police and coroner's officials did not say who was driving.

Kosman said police received conflicting reports about the other car, with some witnesses saying it was a Chevrolet Monte Carlo and describing it as dark-colored, while others described a silver car with tinted windows. Police are working with the DuPage County Accident Reconstruction Team to gather more information.

Fenton officials said some of the popular teens' closest friends were absent from school Tuesday, while most other students were reverently quiet in the hallways.

"There is a palpable calm across the student body," Principal Todd Leden said. "Both boys were popular, well-liked nice students. They were never in trouble and indicative of what you would want your high school son to be like."

Aragon-Rodriguez joined the soccer team once he transferred to Fenton, and coach Victor Ruiz said the teen worried he'd arrived too late in the school year to make the cut.

"I said, 'No it's never too late,'" Ruiz said. "Once I told him that, he was all smiles. And after that he was the one who always brought the smiles to the team."

Now counselors, social workers and the school psychologist are making time for grieving students. They spent Tuesday monitoring classes the teens attended. The school also held a moment of silence during morning announcements and is reaching out to the teens' families, who have requested privacy.

"Both families are just grappling with how to move forward and what's best for them and we'll respect that at this time," Leden said.

Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call Bensenville police at (630) 350-3455.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=351938">Two dead after car strikes tree in Bensenville <span class="date">[01/19/2010]</span></a></li>

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