Darien Driver Killed in Bizarre Crash

I somehow missed posting this article, although I should've when it had happened.
Joe's last house was in Darien, one street away from this horrible fatal accident which happened July 11th, 2010:

Darien, Conn. (WTNH) - A Darien woman died in an early morning crash on Hollow Tree Road today. Police say speed definitely played a part in the accident.

The residential road in the Noroton Heights section of town was closed for 11 hours while investigators processed the scene.

Anita Rycenga lives in the neighborhood. “It sounded like a huge explosion, like when a transformer, one of those big electrical boxes goes. I bolted out of bed.”

The damage created from this one-vehicle accident is immense.

Around 1:30 am, police say a BMW came through Hollow Tree Ridge Road at an extremely high rate of speed. The female driver apparently lost control along a curve. The car went airborne, flew through the unoccupied bedroom of one house, hit a tree and went into the kitchen of the second house.

“There's a significant debris field spanning two separate residences, the roadways, two houses involved,” stated Darien Police Sergeant Jeremiah Marron. "I've never seen an accident that included the dynamics that took place here."

For such a large and uncommon scene, the outcome could have been much worse. Everyone in the second house was asleep on the second floor and away from the damage. The first house was unoccupied at the time of the accident.

Brooke Barrington said her parents just left for vacation on Saturday and if they hadn't, things might have been very tragic.

“If my mom was in town she would be dead. Her head is at that side of the house, that's her bed.”

No injuries were reported in the homes, and police say they are in the early stages of a long investigation.

Investigators say the homes sustained serious structural damage, and that at least one was in danger of collapsing as they tried to remove the car.

30-year-old Whitney Smith, a Darien resident, suffered severe injuries and died a short time later at Stamford Hospital.

This investigation remains ongoing.

If you witnessed or have information about this accident, please contact the Darien Police Department at 203-662-5300.

Whitney Smith’s family and friends, this week, remembered her as a loving, giving woman who had a great life all set up. Smith died early Sunday when her car collided with two Darien houses.

Chris Smith, Whitney’s father, said the family was devastated by the loss of his daughter, who was to marry Douglas Stella of Milford in September. She was a registered retirement associate at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Purchase, N.Y.