Family honors Jacksonville teen killed in fatal crash
Addy Johnson, 15, died in a Morgan County rollover near Jacksonville, and her school honored the Jacksonville High sophomore in pink.
Adelisa “Addy” Rose Johnson, a 15-year-old Jacksonville High School sophomore, was killed in a single-vehicle rollover near Mt. Zion Road and Gravel Springs Road in Morgan County, leaving three other occupants injured and a close-knit school community mourning one of its own. Johnson was ejected from the vehicle’s back seat and pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash happened around 6:00 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, just northwest of Jacksonville. Illinois State Police and the Morgan County Coroner’s Office are still investigating what caused the vehicle to leave the roadway and roll.
Johnson’s death quickly spread through Jacksonville High, where students wore pink in her honor and the halls were marked by the same color. The girls basketball team paid tribute with pink roses on bench seats and jerseys displayed in her memory, a sign of how deeply Johnson’s presence was felt beyond the classroom. Teammates remembered her laughter and energy, and Jacksonville School District 117 superintendent Steve Ptacek said the entire community was grieving the loss of a cherished member of the school.
The public remembrance has also given the tragedy a sharper civic edge in Morgan County, where a crash that took the life of a 15-year-old left families, classmates and coaches confronting the fragility of a familiar stretch of road. A single-vehicle wreck that ended with an ejection and a death at the scene is now part of the county’s record, alongside three injuries and an investigation that has not yet closed.
Johnson’s obituary set her funeral service for Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at The Chapel in Jacksonville and asked mourners to wear pink. It also suggested memorials to The Chapel, the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation to support Jacksonville High School athletics, or the Jacksonville Drumline Institute.
For classmates at Jacksonville High, the pink shirts, roses and jerseys turned grief into a visible tribute for a teenager whose name is now tied to both a fatal crash and a schoolwide show of support.
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