ST. LOUIS — The innocent motorist who was killed last weekend when a car fleeing police broadsided her vehicle has been identified as 44-year-old Hyansama Reese.

A stolen car ran a red light at Natural Bridge and Union Boulevard and crashed into Reese's car the night of April 13, police said.

Reese lived in the 5300 block of Enright Avenue. She was a single mother of three and worked for Express Scripts.

Police arrested five people, including three juveniles, in the stolen car.

Reese's aunt, Semaj Brown of New Orleans, said in an interview Friday that Reese -- who went by the nickname "Hydie" -- was a compassionate and funny woman.

"The family is very hurt," Brown said. "We're upset by his senseless act of violence. The five people caused unnecessary trauma to our family and probably to the city. It's unbelievable."

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Brown said Reese was running errands when her car was struck. Reese was a hard-working woman, Brown said, who moved to St. Louis about 20 years ago. Her children are a son, 12, and two daughters, 20 and 14.

The suspects had taken a 22-year-old woman’s Nissan at gunpoint in a carjacking in the 700 block of Belt Avenue last Sunday about 8:30 p.m.

Twenty minutes later, officers monitoring cameras in the city’s Real Time Crime Center saw the Nissan and told patrolling officers which way it was going. An officer in the Mobile Reserve unit saw it at Natural Bridge Avenue and Goodfellow Boulevard, more than 2 miles north of the carjacking.

The Nissan, police said, was “driving dangerously.” Some of the passengers were hanging out the car windows as they rode. The officer tried to stop the car heading east at Natural Bridge and Belt avenues, but it sped away, police said.

Moments later, the Nissan ran a red light at Natural Bridge and Union Boulevard and crashed into a Hyundai, killing Reese who was driving that car, police said. She died at a hospital. The Nissan hit the Hyundai broadside, pushing it onto a curb.

Authorities said no one in the Nissan was seriously injured. Officers recovered two guns and a fake gun in the Nissan, police said. The suspects taken into custody are two men, ages 20 and 22; two boys, ages 15 and 16; and a 15-year-old girl.

St. Louis police on Friday said no charges have been filed.

Brown said Reese was supposed to visit New Orleans this week and had already sent relatives an itinerary of her plans.

"She loved her family," Brown said. "She was always creating experiences for them."

Twice a year, she and her children would travel somewhere in the United States "just to celebrate," Brown said. "Coming down to New Orleans for crawfish and seafood, that was her thing."

Brown said Reese will be "severely missed" by her family, co-workers and close friends.

"I wish these senseless acts of violence would stop," Brown said. "They're doing these things and not realizing the trauma they are causing."

St. Louis consistently lands on lists of most dangerous cities, but readers need to carefully look at how such lists are prepared.

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