Hit-and-Run Victim Worked in Chesterfield at Edgewild Winery

"She's a good girl," said Chris LaRocca, manager of Winery, in Chesterfield. He was talking about Amber Wood after he learned of her death Friday.

Wood, 23, and longtime server at Edgewild, was killed early Friday in a hit-and-run when she crossed Broadway in St. Louis, with friends. 

"I lost a child too," LaRocca said Friday afternoon to Chesterfield Patch. "So I spoke with Amber's mother this morning. She's just a wreck."

Wood was crossing Broadway about 2 a.m. when what police described as a grey or silver Pontiac Grand Am struck two of the group. A man was hospitaized, and Wood's body was identified at the scene by her mother, Georgie Busch.

LaRocca said when a parent is called to a scene like that, and sees the white tarp covering, the only thought is: Please don't let it be my child. His own 18-year-old son died eight years ago in a head-on car crash on a bridge, when he was thrown into the water below.

LaRocca said he knew Busch, Wood's mother, through the restaurant and winery business, where Busch is the events planner for Chandler Hill winery in Defiance, MO. That connection brought her daughter Amber to work at Edgewild, just beside Chesterfield Mall.

LaRocca described Wood as "alternative" in her style.

"She was not the 'in your face' sort of server," LaRocca said. "She was really into the nuances of the job. She always took the time to know the product, whether it was specials, wine." He said she also worked at the wine-tasting bar in Edgewild.

The last time LaRocca saw Wood was last week, he said, since he manages another restaurant in Clayton, Crushed Red.

LaRocca said he understood that Wood was with three others that night, sending off one of the group moving to New Orleans the next day. A 29-year-old man struck by the same car and hospitalized was the person preparing to relocate.

LaRocca said the group of four friends first went to the Oyster bar, then BB's, and one other jazz club. They were returning to the car parked at the oyster bar on Broadway when they were run down, he said. 

LaRocca said security video caught an image of the car. Other local media said two men appeared to be in the car. Police said debris at the scene indicated the car would have a broken light.

"I hope they find who did this," LaRocca said. "It's adding insult to injury, to know it's a crime."

Wood's youthful co-workers at Edgewild seemed somewhat stunned Friday by news of her death.

At the same time, others were coming into the restaurant, with applications for jobs.