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HUBBARDSTON - Ashley Foley dreamed of becoming a massage therapist and recently passed her high school equivalency exam. Her boyfriend in the Army was due home this week for Christmas, relatives said.
Her hopes ended late Monday, police said, when her Jeep Cherokee may have been clipped by a tractor-trailer, skidded into the median along a dark stretch of Route 2 in Lancaster, and rolled over. Foley died at the scene, police said.
She was one of three people killed in as many days in suspected hit-and-run incidents in Eastern Massachusetts, police said. A woman walking near her home was struck and killed last night in Blackstone, and a Lawrence woman was killed Sunday while walking on Route 114 in Lawrence.
Police said yesterday that they are searching for drivers in all of the cases.
"Preliminary indications is there was a collision," Trooper Eric Benson said during a press conference about Foley's death outside the State Police barracks in Leominster. "We're interested in what the driver could have seen."
Police said that the cab of the truck that may have hit Foley was red and that the trailer was white with extra lighting. Benson said he had no other details about the truck. Investigators have ruled out weather or road conditions as factors in the crash, he said.
Foley's mother, Paula Maricola of Hubbardston, stood on the front porch of the family's house yesterday, burst into tears, and buried her face in her hands when asked about her 18-year-old.
"She was just pulling everything together," Maricola said, pulling a photo from her coat pocket of her daughter on a summer trip with her father, younger sister, and stepbrother. Foley had dark, long hair and wore a big smile in the photo. Maricola said she had recently helped organize a holiday party at the nursing home where her great-grandmother lives nearby.
"She had a heart of gold," Maricola said. "She'd do just about anything for anybody."
Foley was studying to become a nurse's aide through a federally funded program that helped her earn her GED and begin learning a trade. Tony Staynings, director of the program, said Foley was of only 20 students in the nurse's aide program. He called her death devastating.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and those affected," he said.
Maricola said her daughter had been driving a 15-year-old friend home to Barre in her 1994 Jeep when Monday's crash occurred. Police responded about 10:42 p.m. and found the SUV on the median strip of westbound Route 2 near the Johnny Appleseed Rest Area in Lancaster. The 15-year-old passenger, whom officials did not identity, was treated for minor injuries and released from Leominster Hospital.
An investigator should determine in the next few weeks whether the Jeep was struck by the trailer as it passed the Jeep in the right lane, Benson said.
State Police said both victims were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. Foley was the third fatal victim of a suspected hit-and-run on state roads since Sunday, when Deborah Hoare, 39, of Lawrence was struck while walking on Route 114 in Lawrence. Police were investigating whether she was hit by a snow plow.
Last night, police in Blackstone were looking for a driver of what may have been a snow plow that knocked a woman to the ground, where she was hit by a second vehicle on Blackstone Street about 5:30 p.m.
The snowplow, believed to be
The woman may have been walking in the street because the sidewalk was icy and dangerous, said Lieutenant Gregory Gilmore of the Blackstone police.
Officials are asking that anyone who witnessed the accidents or who has information call State Police at 978-537-2188 about the Lancaster death, Blackstone police at 508-883-1212, or Lawrence police at 978-794-5900.
Globe correspondent Daniel M. Peleschuk contributed to this report. Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
