CLINTON COUNTY, Ill. – What began as a midnight drive over the weekend ended in heartbreak, just north of Breese, Illinois, with a car submerged in a frigid pond and a woman dead. The victim’s husband made multiple, desperate attempts to save her before running for help.

The heartbreaking scene unfolded just after 12:15 a.m. Sunday near the 15000 block of Rod and Gun Road.

The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office says the vehicle missed a turn at an intersection and plunged into the pond.

Authorities say Steve Hilmes, the passenger, escaped and made several frantic dives into the freezing water to save his wife, Susan Hilmes. Unfortunately, the vehicle was upside down, with only its rear wheels above the surface.

“Her husband, I was told, tried to save her…three or four times. Tried to retrieve her. And it was effortless,” Breese Mayor Kevin Timmermann said.

Mayor Timmermann knows the family and says he’s saddened by the news.

“The family is a very well-known family throughout Clinton County. My heart goes out to them,” he said. “I also go ahead and have an appreciation for the emergency services of our area. They tried their best to get her out as fast as they could, and the conditions were not favorable.”

Once first responders arrived, they worked quickly to pull the woman from the submerged car. Despite their efforts, she was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The victim’s neighbors are trying to come to grips with the unthinkable.

“They had a granddaughter [staying] with them that they were supporting, basically,” one neighbor said. “She’s a teenager now, but I know she’s really devastated because they took her in. And now it’s just him left.”

Investigators are trying to piece together what led to the crash. The Clinton County community is rallying around a grieving husband who did everything he could to save his wife.