A 40-year-old southern Illinois newlywed is dead after the motorcycle her new husband was driving crashed on the way to the couple's reception.
Jana Miles-Burnett, 40, of Whittington, died Saturday night following a wedding ceremony in a Buckner city park, The Southern Illinoisan reports. Miles-Burnett worked as an emergency dispatcher for Franklin County.
She and husband William Burnett were headed to the reception at a bar in Christopher, just a three-mile trip, around 6:30 p.m. when they struck a deer that had darted onto the rural highway, according to the Illinois State Police.
Miles-Burnett, 40, identified to the newspaper by family members and a funeral home, was thrown off the motorcycle during the collision. Her husband was not seriously injured.
Her daughter, Sara Smillie, told The Southern Illinoisan she had never seen her mother happier than the night of her wedding. Miles-Burnett, who donned a cream-colored tea length wedding dress, had endured a bad divorce and years of heartbreak to make it to her happily ever after. She was "beaming" all night, Smillie told the paper.
The couple dated for only a few months, but fell in love quickly and decided they didn't want to wait before marrying.
Miles-Burnett was still in her wedding dress when she hopped on the back of the motorcycle, with her new husband behind the wheel. A caravan of family and friends riding behind the newlyweds witnessed the crash.
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Miles-Burnett was pronounced dead at 8:04 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s hard to see someone finally happy in their life and it’s gone so fast,” Smillie told The Illinoisan.
