Double Fatality at Skydive Chicago

By Dan Churney

DAYTON TOWNSHIP — Two people, including an Ottawa woman, plunged to their deaths Saturday morning in a skydiving mishap north of Ottawa. Deborah Luhmann, 27, of Ottawa, formerly of Lake in the Hills, and Steven Smith, 44, of Ohio, Ill., were pronounced dead at 10 a.m. Saturday in the emergency room at Community Hospital of Ottawa, said La Salle County Coroner Jody Bernard.

Bernard said witnesses reported Luhmann’s and Smith’s parachutes became entangled about 75 to 100 feet above the ground, causing the chutes to deflate.

Luhmann and Smith landed on Skydive Chicago property, north of the hangar.

The two victims were were part of a 20-person team practicing for a national competition to be held in a few weeks.

Local weather conditions Saturday were sunny, temperatures were in the mid-50s and winds were up to 20 mph.

Autopsies were performed Sunday, but the results will not be available for some time. The La Salle County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident.

Luhmann was an experienced, certified skydiver with 200 jumps, according to her brother, Paul Luhmann, of Chicago. She started skydiving last year and usually jumped every weekend.

“It was a very freak thing,” Paul Luhmann said. “My sister was very responsible. Skydiving wasn’t a stupid thrill for her. Strangely enough, for a skydiver she wasn’t a risk taker. She was very responsible and logical.”

Luhmann was engaged to marry Donovan Bartlett, of Ottawa, formerly of Barrington, on June 22, 2002. She worked as a systems program manager for Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire.

Skydiving was the latest manifestation of Luhmann’s passion for athletics, according to her brother. She was an All-America swimmer at Denison University in Ohio and later a swimming coach for the Palatine Park District.

Paul Luhmann said that although his sister’s time was cut short, she packed a lot of experiences into her life.

“She had so much ahead of her, but had already lived so much.”

With the deaths of Luhmann and Smith, 10 people have died in accidents at Skydive Chicago since the facility opened near Ottawa in 1993. The most recent previous victim was a Pennsylvania woman who was killed July 9 when her chute failed to inflate.

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