Teens injured in Marble Hill crash slowly improving

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The two Woodland students injured last week in a car crash are making steady improvement, their parents say.

Jerry Dees, whose sisters Jennifer Lincoln and Jessica Dees, all of Glenallen, were killed in the accident, had surgery Monday, said his mother Bonnie Dees. He now has a metal rod in his leg and pins in his back, and is in a lot of pain, but is improving.

"Jerry is doing better," Bonnie Dees said. "Now it's a slow process getting through recovery."

Bonnie Dees was in Marble Hill Tuesday for the funeral of her two daughters. She and her husband left afterward to go back to St. Louis to be with Jerry.

Heather Martin of Glenallen, a patient at St. Francis Medical Center, sat up for the first time today, said her mother Cindy Martin.

Heather is taking antibiotics to ward off infection and is still taking pain medication, but is no longer hooked up to IV tubes.

"She's feeling better, looking better and eating more," her mother said.

Martin attended the Dees/Lincoln funeral and said there were hundreds of people there, mostly the girls' friends from school.

The community continues to hold benefits for the families of the injured children. Country Mart in Marble Hill is having a fund-raiser for the Dees family this week, and one for Heather Martin next week. The Knights of Columbus Hall of Leopold is planning a fund-raising shooting match May 23.

"The community has been so supportive," said Doug Lindley, Bonnie Dees' brother. "My gosh, it's so tight here. There's so much love and everything."