Driver in deadly I-495 crash in Methuen was drinking, had suspended license, prosecutor says
LAWRENCE - Katrina Nguyen, the woman charged with killing two men in a hit-and-run crash on Route 495 in Methuen, had been drinking and driving with a suspended license, a prosecutor said Monday.
Katrina Nguyen charged
Nguyen, 26, was in tears as she pleaded not guilty to two counts of motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene resulting in death, leaving the scene with personal injury, leaving the scene with property damage and driving after a suspension at her arraignment in Essex County Superior Court in Lawrence.
Assistant District Attorney Jessica Fleet said Nguyen had been drinking at two parties and a lounge late Friday night into Saturday morning before she crashed her SUV into a pickup truck on 495 north just after 6 a.m. Saturday.
A witness told police Nguyen sped past her at nearly 100 miles an hour, made a sharp left turn into the pickup truck, then drove away. The truck rolled over into the median and slammed into a tree. There were four men inside.
Two passengers, 41-year-old Kenny Milanez and 37-year-old Celso Diaz, both of Worcester, died. Two others in the truck were hurt. All four were on their way to work in New Hampshire at the time of the crash.
The witness followed the SUV and alerted police. Investigators said Nguyen later abandoned her wrecked vehicle and that surveillance video in the neighborhood showed her getting out of the passenger side of the car because the driver's side was so heavily damaged.
Nguyen turned herself in to Lawrence Police around noon Saturday, Fleet said, but still smelled of alcohol at the time and couldn't remember the crash. The prosecutor said Nguyen had no criminal record, but she has a long history of traffic violations, including driving without insurance.
She was ordered held on $200,000 cash bail. If she posts bail, Nguyen must wear a GPS tracking device and she will not be able to driver or leave her home. She's due back in court on November 26.
Husbands killed in crash
Fleet said relatives of both Diaz and Milanez were in court Monday for the arraignment.
"I will miss him forever," Diaz's wife told WBZ-TV Sunday.
Milanez leaves behind a wife, a 7-year-old son and a three-year old daughter. He also had two other children in Brazil.
Both families are hoping to bury Milanez and Diaz in Brazil. Friends have created an online fundraiser to help the families with those expenses.