Father Tragically Dies in Crash After Visiting Newborn Daughter in Hospital

After a joyful visit with his newborn daughter at an Illinois hospital, a young father's trip home ended in a fatal crash that shattered the family he had just begun building.

Reports of a crash reached Lake County deputies on the afternoon of July 18, 2025, prompting them to respond to the intersection of Route 176 and Bradley Road in Green Oaks. They arrived around 2:35 p.m. to find a motorcyclist fatally injured after colliding with a semi-truck, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies later confirmed the victim as Dennis Lewis, 35, of Round Lake Beach. Investigators determined that Lewis was traveling west on his 2013 Harley-Davidson through a green light when a 2008 Peterbilt semi-truck, driven by a 50-year-old man from McHenry, turned left across his lane.

Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene, while the truck driver was found uninjured and immediately began cooperating with the investigation. The county coroner scheduled an autopsy, and the Sheriff's technical crash team began reviewing the circumstances of the collision.

Just hours before the accident, Lewis had been at Highland Park Hospital visiting his three-day-old daughter, Harley. His girlfriend, Amberly Trocke, said he went for a solo visit before their planned 4 p.m. pickup because he could not bear being away from the baby. "He wanted her to know we were there and not be alone," she later shared.

During his visit, Lewis texted Trocke to say their daughter had stirred at the sound of his voice, just as she did in the womb. His last call to her came at 1:39 p.m., letting her know he planned to grab food before heading home. He never arrived.

At home in Round Lake Beach, Trocke waited with her other daughter, Davina, who would turn four in two days. When the afternoon wore on with no sign of Lewis, a friend drove Trocke and Davina to the hospital to bring Harley home. During the drive, she phoned several hospitals along his route, fearing he might have been taken there after an accident.

"He was not the kind of person you had to worry about," Trocke said. "So, I knew in my heart something was wrong." As she was riding back home with Harley and Davina, Trocke learned from Lewis' mother that there had been a crash, though at first the family did not believe it was him.

When she reached out to police, they told her deputies would meet her at the house. That was when the devastating truth was confirmed. "I was just screaming, crying, and I called my mom," she recalled. "[Davina] is holding her ears, saying her ears hurt, but I couldn't help it because I was just so upset."

Family members say Lewis had been overjoyed about becoming a father. His cousin, Stephanie Cornell, who attended the couple's baby shower back in June, remembered how radiant he was that day. "He was so proud to start his family," said Cornell, who often went to concerts with him.

At the party, he gave her a tour of the home he had renovated, showing off the freshly painted nursery and Davina's updated room. Cornell reflected, "I've never seen him so happy in my whole life than seeing him going to be a father. [sic]"

Lewis, a transmission mechanic, had planned to propose to Trocke after their daughter's birth, a fact she only found out after his passing. "It just hurts that we didn't get to finish that part of our life," Trocke lamented.

In the days after the tragedy, Trocke shared her heartbreak publicly in a Facebook post, writing, "My heart is shattered. This is true heartbreak. Six days ago, my world was turned upside down. My girls' dad was taken from us tragically. It is so surreal."

She described the difficulty of waking up in the home they had built for their family and the pain of explaining to Davina that her father was gone. "Our daughter Harley will never get to know how awesome of a dad she had except through us," she wrote, adding that Davina whispered, "Dennis isn't here to protect me from the monsters."

Family and friends have launched a GoFundMe campaign to support Trocke and her daughters. The fundraiser will cover baby essentials, immediate living expenses, and future support for Harley as she grows up without her father.

On the GoFundMe page, Lewis was described as "a kind, hardworking, and loving man who had just stepped into fatherhood with so much hope and love in his heart."

Lewis never had the chance to bring his newborn daughter home. As the community rallies around the family, they continue to honor the memory of a devoted father whose life was cut short too soon.