'The most beautiful smile,' Friends of mother killed in Taunton crash stunned by her sudden death
TAUNTON - The reality of it is just starting to settle in. "She has the most beautiful smile," says longtime friend Lisa Dooley -- who admits she's still struggling to talk about friend Lori Medeiros in the past tense.
"For someone who is just so vibrant to be here one moment and then gone the next," she says, "is just inconceivable."
It was Monday afternoon, and Medeiros was driving on Kingman Street in Taunton when police say a drug trafficking suspect -- who mistakenly thought he was being chased -- plowed his gray Toyota Highlander into her red Ford Fusion.
"She left the house that day thinking it was just another regular day -- and she didn't come home," said Dooley. "That is heartbreaking."
Hector Bannister-Sanchez has now been charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide. Police say the 34-year-old was fleeing a surveillance sting in Middleboro, where they had tried to stop him during a drug delivery.
Instead, he sped off, and state police say they didn't realize he'd crashed two towns over until they tracked the GPS device they'd secretly affixed to his SUV.
"We often use that expression beautiful inside and out," says Dooley. "But that really is accurate for Lori."
Lori Medeiros was a 54-year-old mother-of-two -- a son in college and a daughter in high school.
She was a mortgage loan officer who spent a lot of time giving back to fellow South Shore businesswomen through workshops and volunteer coaching.
Friends, including Lisa Dooley of the South Shore Women's Business Network, describe her as generous, engaging and approachable.
"And she wanted people to understand that there were things they could do to better themselves," Dooley said. "She understood the importance of giving back. That was really part of her personality."
And to have her perish in such a bizarre and sudden way has shaken here friends to the core -- as they try to find some comfort in the impact she made on their lives.
"So, I think if there's a legacy there," says Dooley, "it's her kindness, her generosity, and the light she shone on others."
When police searched the Norton address where suspect Bannister-Sanchez lived with his girlfriend, they found large amounts of cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine -- along with $90,000 in cash.
So, in addition to manslaughter, he's also being held on a long list of drug charges. His girlfriend, 34-year-old Jillian Haynes, was also arrested for drug trafficking.