Teen dies in Woodstock interstate wreck

Victoria Heil hoped to parlay a natural aptitude for math into a career in civil engineering.

Though still a senior at Woodstock High School, the 18-year-old varsity football cheerleader already had completed some basic college courses through a joint enrollment program at Kennesaw State University.

Enlarge this image

Special

Victoria Heil died Sunday in a single-vehicle accident on I-575.

Recent headlines:

[an error occurred while processing this directive]    • Cherokee County news

“She had her life on track,” said Tyler Pischke, a student at KSU and the longtime boyfriend of Victoria’s sister, Alexandra.

Victoria died early Sunday in the second wreck over the long Christmas weekend to kill a Cherokee County teenager.

Brittany Elaine Weiss, a 19-year-old college student and graduate of Cherokee High School, died Friday in a crash involving a suspected drunken driver.

“To have these two back to back and two so close in age is just very tragic,” said Cherokee County Coroner Earl Darby.

Victoria was killed when her Jeep Wrangler struck a guardrail and overturned about 12:20 a.m. Sunday on I-575, near Towne Lake Parkway. She was alone in the vehicle and not wearing a seat belt, the State Patrol said.

“It looks like she just bobbled off the road and overcorrected,” the coroner said.

Kelly Burke, chair of the science department at Woodstock High, taught advance placement physics to Victoria in her junior year and described the teenager’s math abilities as “just rare.”

“She had a very bright future,” Burke said.

Victoria scored 780 out of a possible 800 on the math portion of the SAT, her father, Gregory Heil, said.

“Her goal was a perfect score,” he said.

She was a member of the National Honor Society, and her skills in math earned her a place last year in the Governor’s Honors Program, said her mother, Amy Heil, a paraprofessional in special education at Woodstock High.

Sometimes, during lunch breaks at school, Victoria would go to her mother’s classroom and tutor some of the students who were struggling with math.

“The kids just adored her,” she said.

Bobby Ehrhardt, Victoria’s brother-in-law, said the teen was “full of life, extremely outgoing and friendly.

“The minute you met her she was your best friend,” he said.

She had several passions, her family said, including her Catholic faith and her love of athletics, the outdoors and a good game of cribbage with her father.

Spending time with her family was a priority, sisters Katherine and Alexandra said.

“She was my best friend,” said Alexandra, a junior at the University of Georgia. She said the two would routinely bunk together so they could chat into the night about boys and other subjects.

“Even over Christmas, we did that,” Alexandra said.

Gregory Heil said he remembers one night finding Victoria still up as midnight approached. A friend’s birthday was the next day, and she wanted to be the first person to text her good wishes. “She always wanted people to feel special,” he said.