Joliet mother killed in crash, orphaning 5-year-old
By Cindy Wojdyla Cain ccain@stmedianetwork.com February 7, 2012 8:22PM
Tyris Robertson stands with a photo of his sister, Trineah Robertson, on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 in Joliet, Ill. Trineah was killed in a car accident on Interstate 57 over the weekend. | Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 9, 2012 8:15AM
JOLIET — Tyris Robertson was asleep Sunday morning when a friend woke him to deliver some bad news.
His sister, Trineah, 25, of Joliet, had been hurt in a car accident earlier that morning, he was told. As Tyris rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, he dared not think the worst.
“They said she was in an accident, and everybody was crying,” Tyris said Tuesday afternoon. “I thought she just broke a leg or was just hurt.”
But Tyris, 20, soon learned the horrible truth.
“When I got there, my grandmother and mother told me she wasn’t breathing on her own.”
Trineah was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:55 p.m. She had been a passenger in a vehicle traveling north on Interstate 57 near West 111th Street in Chicago when it was involved in a three-vehicle crash.
Tyris said his family was devastated by his sister’s sudden death.
“She was always laughing, always smiling,” Tyris said. “She was beautiful inside and out.”
But the family has dealt with sudden death before.
Trineah’s daughter, Jayneah, was only 6 weeks old when her father was shot and killed in Chicago, Tyris said. The girl, now 5, was with her godparents Sunday when her mother was killed, Tyris said.
Tyris said his sister had wanted to be an interior designer when she was younger, but she recently had decided to become a teacher.
She was taking classes at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana and had a job as an aide at Trinity Services in Joliet.
“She was very driven and self-motivated, very determined,” Tyris said of his sister. “She was one who would never give up.”
Tyris said in addition to being an “amazing” mother, his sister always was helping people.
“She played the big sister role for everybody.”
Trineah’s daughter has been told her mother is dead, but she keeps expecting her to return home, Tyris said.
“She knows, but I don’t think she fully understands what it means,” he said.
State police said the accident was triggered when a Volkswagen Phaeton attempted to pass Trineah’s Yukon SUV on the right shoulder.
A friend of Trineah’s, who was driving the Yukon, told police she lost control and the SUV traveled across the northbound lanes and struck a concrete median barrier on the left shoulder. Trineah’s head struck the windshield.
Tyris said the family has been told that the accident was caused by vehicles drag racing behind the Yukon.
A police accident reconstructionist has been assigned to the crash, but no further information was available Tuesday, said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Robert Satkiewicz.
Trineah, who lived at 1524 Fairmont, attended Forest Park Grade School, Gompers Junior High and Joliet West High School. She was a member of her Shiloh Baptist Church Choir, the Praise Dance Team and the high school gospel choir.
In addition to Tyris and Jayneah, Trineah is survived by her parents Michele Mitchell and Shawn Hinton; two brothers, Tyrielle and Trevon Gordon; and grandmother Lucille Jackson.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Minor-Morris Funeral Home in Joliet.
A funeral service will be held Saturday morning at Shiloh Baptist Church in Lockport at a time to be determined, Tyris said.
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