To many at Nashoba Regional High School, the death of Frank DeMeo seemed like a terrible case of déjà vu.
The car accident on Tuesday that took the life of the 19-year-old wrestling team captain from Stow was the latest in a string of tragedies involving students at the Bolton school in recent years.
"There has been a lot of deaths in the school," said Stow resident Jane Lively, mother of 16-year-old John Lively, a Nashoba student who died in a car accident in 2000. "It is freaky."
Few could explain why such grief has repeatedly visited the regional school, which draws students from Bolton, Lancaster and Stow, but several area residents agreed it was hard not to think of the past as news of DeMeo's death spread through the community last week.
"It does dredge up something, particularly for the faculty, the ones who have been around it all," said the school's principal, Jeremy Roche. "It resurfaces a lot of the feelings that we had."
Many of the deaths of Nashoba students involved auto accidents. In 2004, Michael Magazu, 17, died in a car crash on Interstate 495. In 2001, Jeff Chou, 17, died when his car hit a tree. In 1991, a car hit and killed Margaret Jones as she was riding her bicycle.
Others involved more unusual circumstances. In 2005, Nashoba senior Alison Murphy, 17, a ski instructor, died in a skiing accident in Maine. In 1992, an explosion killed Eric Dudely, 16, after he picked up a discarded grenade at Fort Devens, a former Army base.
In what was perhaps the most bizarre death, Jason Goldfarb, 17, died in 1989 when a soccer goal fell on his head as he was placing a memorial on it for two students, Stephen Rausch, 17, and Joanna Basteri, 17. Both had died the day before in a car accident.
"Every single one of these situations is different," Lively said. "It's made me think not everyone is going to be alive until they are 50 or 100. It's really unfortunate."
DeMeo was killed shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday as he was jogging on Fox Run Road near the high school, working to bring his weight down for an upcoming wrestling match, when a car driven by a friend and teammate hit him.
Nashoba Regional School Committee member Mel Govindan pointed out that every school has its share of tragedies. "Making a connection with the school is not appropriate," he said, because many of the deaths occurred away from school grounds.
But Phil Riccio, a Lancaster resident who coached DeMeo in wrestling in middle school, said there could be a factor common to the fatal car accidents: Nashoba students are dispersed over a large area that requires them to drive long distances to meet their friends and classmates.
"I don't know what it is," Riccio said. "Three towns, a lot of back roads, a lot of windy roads. You've got kids driving in bad weather situations. People drive 20 minutes just to get anywhere. In a city, you can't drive too fast; you need to stop for lights."
With fewer than 1,000 students, the Nashoba community banded together for support as details of DeMeo's death surfaced. Many commented on how DeMeo, like many of the students who died recently, was a popular student who was firmly knitted into the fabric of the school.
"Even though these towns are growing, they are still small," said Maureen Busch, cochair of a parent-teacher group at the school, in mourning DeMeo's death.
"I remember him from when he was younger. It's not like he's some stranger. Once again, it's a kid who has touched the lives of other kids. He was cocaptain of the wrestling team. He was a leader."
