Bride dies in motorcycle crash on way to wedding reception

BUCKNER, Ill. -- A 40-year-old bride has died in a motorcycle accident as her new husband drove her to their wedding reception in southern Illinois.

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reports that Jana Miles-Burnett of Whittington died Saturday night following her marriage ceremony in a Buckner city park.

Illinois State Police report that husband William Burnett was driving the couple the three miles to their reception at a bar in Christopher when he struck a deer that darted in front of them on a rural highway. Miles-Burnett was thrown from the motorcycle. Her husband was not seriously injured.

The couple had dated for only a few months before marrying.

Miles-Burnett's identity was confirmed to the newspaper by family members and a funeral home.

She worked as a Franklin County emergency dispatcher.

A GoFundMe page says she is survived by two children, Sara Elizabeth Smillie, 22, and Cody Allen Miles, 14.