Dykstra, who was in the front passenger seat, was killed on impact and Burch had to be extricated from the vehicle, he said. Emergency crews treated Burch for about 30 minutes before declaring her dead at 11:44 a.m., according to the coroner. Both women were wearing seat belts.
The semi driver, Franklin G. Diamond, 43, of Lancaster, Ohio, was not injured in the accident. He was tested for drugs and alcohol and those tests came back negative, Zalm said. Investigators have already ruled the deaths accidental.
Zalm said there was no evidence that Burch attempted to brake at the stop sign.
Burch is the wife of Mitchell Burch, pastor of Towne Boulevard Church of God in Middletown. The couple have been married for 36 years.
On his Facebook page, Burch wrote: “My beautiful bride of 36 years met Jesus today face to face … Please pray for my family. Rest in His loving arms sweet love as you Celebrate being home … I’ll see you over on the other side but until then, we will be Embraced by His mercy.”
Clark Helvey, pastor of outreach and missions at Berachah Church, and the Rev. Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah, are both police and fire chaplains in Middletown and were notified about the double fatal accident around 2 p.m. by Middletown police. The two men were tasked with breaking the tragic news to Rev. Burch that his wife and mother-in-law had been killed.
Helvey said Rev. Burch was having lunch at a Middletown fast food restaurant when he and Ferrell called his cellphone and told him they needed to talk. Helvey and Ferrell met Rev. Burch in the restaurant’s parking lot where they told him what had happened.
Rev. Burch was “distraught” by the news, Helvey said. Helvey called it “quite a shocker” and that it was “devastating to the church.” He asked the Middletown community to pray for the reverend and for the church.
Ferrell called Burch’s death “a loss to the community of believers.”
Candice Keller, executive director of the Community Pregnancy Center, said Towne Boulevard Church has supported the center for the last 20 years, and during the last seven or eight years, she has become friends with the Burch family. She said the death of Shelly was especially difficult because she was in the “prime of her life” and she was a proud mother of two grown children and four grandchildren.
“She was a very positive person,” Keller said. “She gave of herself.”
Keller said she woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep.
Another friend, Shelly McRoberts, a member of Towne Boulevard, frequently attended small-group Bible studies at the Burch residence. McRoberts said she was still in shock over the death of Burch and her mother.
“She was a wonderful person who could light up a room,” McRoberts said. “She was genuine, loving and caring.”
About 100 people gathered at Towne Boulevard Church of God Wednesday night for an impromptu prayer service. Church members played music, no one spoke, but sobbing could be heard throughout the service.
“We needed to come together and pray. That’s all we have,” said Ben Higgins, youth pastor at the church since August. “The church has full confidence in God’s goodness in every season of life.”
Burch was the church pianist and also a singer in one of the church quartets, he said.
Sophie Howard, 82, a Towne Boulevard Church of God member for the last 37 years, said the congregation was “very shocked” to hear the passing of the two women. She called Rochelle “a wonderful person.”
The Rev. Greg Tyus, pastor of United Missionary Baptist Church in Middletown, was also among those who attended the service. Tyus said he sometimes preaches at Towne Boulevard and considers the congregation “family to me.”
Tyus said earlier this week, a good friend of his, the Rev. Melford Elliott, a pastor in Akron, was killed in Louisville on Sunday while driving to surprise his mother for Mother’s Day.
“I can’t handle anything else,” Tyus said, adding that in times like these he leans on his faith because “everything else fails.”
The Rev. Michael Bailey, pastor of Faith United Church in Middletown, called the news of Rochelle Burch’s passing “devastating.” Bailey said Burch was from Charleston, W. Va., where his youngest son lives, a fact that connected them.
“I am at a loss for words right now,” Bailey said. “It’s time for the entire faith community to wrap around the Burch family and Towne Boulevard and help provide God’s love to them as they deal with this terrible loss.”
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