Lynn Reynolds spent her life helping others.
She was known for taking meals, blankets and coats to the homeless community.
She bought and rehabbed houses and then rented rooms to people recently released from jail who needed a place to stay.
And on the evening when she was hit by a driver high on cocaine, she and her mom had been heading to the funeral home to plan services for her Uncle Chester, who she had cared for over the past several years.
Reynolds and her mom were injured in the July 3, 2024, crash. Reynolds was critical.
She was rushed to UPMC Mercy where she had surgery. Doctors thought she would make it.
But three days later, she died from her injuries.
On Wednesday, the man who killed her was ordered to serve 5 to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to homicide by vehicle and his third instance of driving under the influence.
Although his attorney told the court her client was remorseful and full of regret, Jesus Luciano said nothing when asked by the judge.
“It’s disappointing to see you not take the opportunity to speak,” said Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara. “You have devastated an entire community needlessly.”
‘Just my crack pipe’
Just before 8 p.m., Reynolds and her mom, Joyce Whipkey, were driving down East Eighth Avenue in Homestead to take a deposit to the funeral home.
They never made it.
Instead, Reynolds’ sedan was struck head-on by Luciano, who was driving a white Chevy Trail Blazer on a suspended license.
Police said he crossed a double yellow line, hitting the sedan, before his SUV flew through the air and struck three other vehicles. Whipkey’s wrist and sternum were broken.
“This accident was large, violent,” said Assistant District Attorney Matthew Cullen. “It was avoidable.”
The event data recorder in Luciano’s car, police said, showed he was driving 104 mph three seconds before the crash, weaving in and out of traffic at 7 p.m. in Homestead.
Nine people were injured.
“Basically, a half-city block of cars was destroyed in this incident,” Cullen said.
Lab tests later showed Luciano, 38, of Homestead, had cocaine in his system. He had been involved in a hit-and-run crash earlier that morning in Munhall, as well.
When police asked him if anyone else was in his vehicle after the crash, he answered, “No, just my crack pipe.”
One letter apart
Reynolds, 47, grew up in Rankin but was living in Duquesne at the time of the crash, her best friend, Lynne Johnson, said on Wednesday.
The two met in sixth-grade homeroom. The first day, when the teacher called roll, Johnson asked how Reynolds spelled her first name.
“I have an ‘E,’” Johnson told her.
From then on, she said, she became “Lynne with an E.”
Throughout their decades-long friendship, the two women also referred to each other as “Twin.”
“In Rankin, I’m Black Lynne. She’s white Lynn,” Johnson said.
Her daughters called Reynolds “DeDe.”
One of them, Ianna Johnson, Reynolds’ goddaughter, said in a victim-impact statement that Reynolds took care of everyone.
“This man took a special person away from everybody,” she wrote.
Beloved godmother
After the Johnson family moved to Maryland, Reynolds would still drive down for all of the children’s events, but she could never stay long because she had to get home to look after her uncle, Chester Whipkey, who was disabled. He died at 81.
Johnson, who drove up for the sentencing, described her best friend as funny, kind, generous and loving.
But she was also no-nonsense. Reynolds spoke her mind, and no one ever had to guess what she was thinking, her mom said.
Reynolds hated the color red so much that when Johnson dropped her toddler daughter off to spend the day once in a head-to-toe red outfit, Reynolds took the clothes off, burned them, and put the little girl in all blue.
“‘You did that on purpose,’” Johnson remembers her friend telling her. “‘You know how much I hate red.”
After the hearing, Johnson shared several stories about their friendship, switching from tears to laughter. She described how Reynolds frequently got detention in high school, hated mornings and loved kids and pets.
Although Reynolds did not have any biological children, Johnson said, she had more than 100 godchildren.
”This woman was loved beyond belief,” Lazzara said.