(MCT) — Before the start of school Tuesday, the word had spread through social media: Two teenagers died in a horrific single-car crash the night before on a dark, rain-slick road in far northwest suburban Antioch Township.

Students anxiously traded information and began posting tributes even before authorities confirmed the victims' names: Ashley Seay, 17, of Lindenhurst, and Joel Wittkamp, 16, of Antioch. Some teens stayed home from school, shaken by the latest tragedy in a series of bad news for young people in this tightknit community a few miles south of the Wisconsin state line.