Damn. My cousin's daughter was killed Thursday. [View All]

[graywarrior]

Lynn woman killed in highway accident

By Dan O'Brien and Thor Jourgensen / The Daily Item

LYNN - The death of Fay Estate resident Lauren Casey in a traffic accident Thursday cast a pall of tears over English High School where one of her mentors remembered the 24-year-old as a young woman of "hope and promise."

Casey was killed in a car crash on Interstate 95 in Wakefield shortly after 2:30 a.m., according to State Police.

Her vehicle somehow lost control near exit 40 and veered to the right, crashing through a guardrail and down a small embankment, police said. For reasons still unknown, Casey walked away from the crash scene and into a travel lane where she was struck by a car, according to police.

"When I heard the news it was like a candle going out," Vice Principal Donna Hegan said through tears Thursday night as she recalled the last time she saw Casey.

"I was leaving jury duty in Salem and she saw me, pulled her car over and jumped out. She said, 'I told my friend I have to say hi to my vice principal,'" Hegan said.

Casey excelled at English High and signed up for the school's dual enrollment program with North Shore Community College. She took courses at North Shore during her junior and senior years at English and graduated in 2002.

"She could easily handle the material because she was that smart," Hegan said.

EHS guidance counselor Karen Twomey said Casey was a softball player who almost always made honor roll and had a lot of friends.

"She was a kid full of life and a lot of energy," Twomey said. "We're so stunned by this."

Casey's father, Gene Casey, is a teacher at Breed Middle School and her mother, Judith, is an administrative assistant the Lynn School Dept. Administration Building.

The family was too upset to comment on Thursday.

Casey impressed Hegan as a freshman when she attempted to convince the vice principal to allow ninth graders to jazz up the normally sedate "freshman frolic" dance.

"She put her cards on the table and told me they wanted a much bigger dance," Hegan said, recalling how Casey looked forward to inviting her brother, Tim, then a senior at English, now a legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. John Tierney, to the frolic.

Hegan denied the request but she did not forget Tim Casey's sometimes serious, ever enthusiastic little sister.

"She stood out in her class as a bright, beautifully articulate, outgoing personality."

Casey attended the University of Massachusetts Boston where she earned a spot on the dean's list. English employees were not certain last night where and when she completed undergraduate studies.

Twomey said Casey recently sought out references as part of her plan to enroll in a graduate level psychology program.

"She was a very, very nice girl," Twomey said. "She was mature beyond her years."