Pike County charged Jaime Rhode with murder after a U.S. 54 crash that killed passenger Cherie Wells.

The warrant is two murder counts and one attempted-murder count. The Oct. 20 release describes one death, and it does not say who the second murder count or the attempted-murder count names. In July the sheriff said the driver crossed the center line and the crash was still under investigation. In October he said she steered into the semi in order to kill everyone in her car. FOX19's photo caption says the warrant was signed Tuesday. The sheriff's release says the warrant was Oct. 16 and the arrest was Oct. 20.

Pike County Sheriff David Greenwood said Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, that Jaime L. Rhode of Griggsville, Illinois, was arrested that day and lodged in the Pike County Jail. His release says Judge J. Frank McCartney signed a warrant on Oct. 16 charging Jamie Rhode with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. The same release spells her Jaime L. Rhode in the narrative of the crash and Jamie Rhode on the warrant and the arrest. A July 27 release from the same office spelled her Jaimie L. Rhode. WGEM, in a story carried by FOX19, used Jaime Rhode and reported the arrest and the three counts. FOX19's article text says the warrant was signed Friday and the arrest was Tuesday. The photo caption on that story says the warrant was signed Tuesday.

The crash was July 24, 2026, at 7:54 p.m., a head-on collision on U.S. 54 near the top of Atlas Hill between a passenger car and a semi pulling a trailer, the Oct. 20 release says. The July 27 release placed it about a mile east of Atlas and said the passenger car crossed the center line and struck the front driver's-side corner of the semi. Everyone in the car was hurt and taken to hospitals, the October release says. One passenger, Cherie K. Wells, 73, of Pittsfield, later died of her injuries in St. Louis County, Missouri, Greenwood said. The July release said the driver and two passengers were taken first to Illini Community Hospital and then transferred, and that helicopters could not fly because of weather. It named the semi driver as Michael R. Richardson of Robstown, Texas, and said law enforcement took him to Illini Community Hospital. The October release does not name him, and it does not name the second passenger. It also does not say which count applies to which person.

What the sheriff says the investigation found is the change between the two releases. On July 27 he wrote that the initial investigation indicated the car crossed the center line, and that the crash was still under investigation. On Oct. 20 he wrote that investigators discovered Rhode purposely steered her vehicle in front of the oncoming semi with the intent of killing all the occupants of her vehicle. He said a report went to the Pike County State's Attorney's Office, and that the warrant followed on Oct. 16. WGEM reported the same account of an intentional steering. That is the sheriff's conclusion in a charging announcement. A jury has not heard it.

The October release describes one person who died. It lists two first-degree murder counts and one attempted first-degree murder count, and it does not explain the extra murder count or name the person on the attempted-murder count. Rhode was booked into the Pike County Jail on Tuesday, Greenwood and WGEM reported. The July release still had the crash open. The October release is the warrant. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.