Chicago hit-and-run crash kills well-known pastor and her husband
CHICAGO - There is heartbreak for a family and a South Side church community. A well-known pastor and her husband of over three decades were killed in a hit-and-run accident Monday night in Pullman on Chicago's Far South Side.
On Tuesday, the couple would have been celebrating their wedding anniversary — 38 years together. But tragically they were killed after leaving church, just 12 minutes away from their home.
Officers found 65-year-old Apostle Dr. Yvonne Lee-Wilson and 69-year-old Adelbert Wilson in their wrecked car around 11:15 p.m. at 111th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago police said.
Inside the flipped over red SUV was the couple. They had just finished a prayer service at their church, Body of Christ Deliverance Ministries on West 115th Street.
Adelbert was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died, officials said. Yvonne, 66, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she also died.
"I would like for them to turn themselves in, we don’t know if it was an accident or intentional," said Geneva Davis, the sister of Dr. Lee-Wilson.
On the scene of the crash, the doors of the Nissan Rogue that hit the Wilsons were wide open. Whoever was inside took off, leaving a hole in the lives of this close-knit family.
"I was devastated, frustrated … and just trying to understand why," said Davis.
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Davis says her sister would’ve celebrated her birthday next week.
"She was a person that was always available. She was a giver. She didn’t have to know you to give you anything," Davis said.
The family is hoping police can track down whoever was in the white SUV.
"They were some extremely beautiful people," said fellow pastor Lolita Luckett, adding that she knew the couple for years.
"She was a great woman and she left a great legacy behind," Luckett said. "She touched the lives of many, many people, too many to even count. In and out of Illinois."
Yvonne Lee-Wilson came from a family of clergy and had been involved in the ministry for over 35 years. She served over 25 years as senior pastor at Body of Christ Deliverance Ministries, 741 W. 115th St., a few miles west of the crash.
In 2013, Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) introduced a resolution in the City Council honoring Lee-Wilson for her many years supporting those in the West Pullman area.
Lee-Wilson was born in Chicago and earned her Bachelor’s degree from Chicago State University. Then she earned a Master’s and later a Doctorate of Divinity from St. Michael’s Institution, the resolution noted.
The couple, who were married for over 34 years, leaves behind two daughters, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, according to the ministry’s website.
Chicago Police Major Accidents Division continues to investigate.
Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.