Illinois woman sentenced to 20 years for fatal, fiery Edinburg crash

A 41-year-old Illinois woman was convicted Thursday of killing two people in a four-vehicle, fiery crash, court records show.

Amanda Marie Bender was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the deaths of Wisconsin resident Jeremy John Hess and Edinburg resident Sergio Delgado on April 23, 2024.

Bender pleaded guilty to and was convicted of two counts of intoxicated manslaughter while two counts of manslaughter were dismissed.

At around 9:43 a.m. that Tuesday, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was dispatched to the intersection of Alamo Road and Texas Road in Edinburg, according to a probable cause affidavit.

In the initial news release from DPS, authorities said that the investigation revealed that a red Ford Escape, occupied by Bender and 43-year-old Hess as her passenger, was traveling eastbound on Texas Road while a red Nissan Sentra driven by 29-year-old Delgado was traveling southbound on FM 907.

Bender failed to yield the right of way at a stop sign, crashing into the Sentra which caused it to spin out and crash into the back of a brown Cadillac that was traveling north on Alamo Road heading toward Texas Road.

The Sentra continued off the road and struck a metal pole which caused it to ignite upon impact, according to the affidavit.

The Escape veered off the roadway and onto the southeast corner of Texas Road and FM 907 where it hit a utility pole causing Hess to be ejected from the vehicle upon impact. His body then struck a parked Ford Econoline before coming to a rest on a patch of grass, according to the release.

The Cadillac also spun out due to the impact and ended up on the southbound lane facing south.

Soon after, the Edinburg Fire Department arrived and put out the flames engulfing the Sentra which revealed Delgado still in his seat but burnt beyond recognition. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Cadillac, Bender and Hess were all transported to a local hospital for medical attention, but Hess would later die there. The Cadillac driver was released the following Sunday.

The trooper retrieved surveillance footage from a drive-thru near the crash site which confirmed the events of the crash, according to the affidavit.

They later arrived at DHR Health and made contact with medical staff who advised them that Bender may be under the influence, that she was refusing medical treatment and wanted to flee to Florida with her mother.

A crash data retrieval conducted on the Escape revealed that Bender was traveling at 65 mph five seconds before the crash on Texas Road, which is a 30 mph speed limit zone.

“At the point of impact, speeds of (the Escape) were 85 mph,” the affidavit said.

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