A motor vehicle accident that claimed the life of the driver has been linked to a hit-and-run accident that occurred just minutes prior in the early evening hours of July 23 in Jackson.
According to information provided by Jackson police, Cara Lee Williams, 38, of Ocean Township (Monmouth County) and Jackson, was pronounced dead at the scene of the single-vehicle accident. Police officials said her car careened off East Veterans Highway and struck several trees.
Members of the Whitesville Fire Company extricated Williams from the blue 2005 Toyota Camry she was driving.
Police said that same vehicle was seen earlier at the site of a hit-and-run accident that involved one other vehicle at the corner of Cedar Swamp Road and East Commodore Boulevard. No injuries were reported in that incident, and damage to the cars was minor, according to police. The circumstances of that accident remain under investigation.
As officers were responding to the hitand run accident at Cedar Swamp Road and East Commodore Boulevard, reports of a Camry being driving erratically southbound on Cedar Swamp Road and eastbound on East Veterans Highway started coming in, according to police.
The Camry crashed about 5 miles from where the hit-and-run accident occurred.
“The type of damage to the car suggests that she was going well over the speed limit,” Officer Patrick Mackin said. East Veterans Highway between Bowman and Butterfly roads was closed for three hours while law enforcement authorities investigated the crash site.
Anyone with information regarding the crash is asked to contact Officer Patrick Mackin at 732-928-1111, ext. 2406.
An obituary published in the Asbury Park Press identified the victim as Cara Lee Middleton Williams Eugenio and stated that she is survived by two children, her mother, two sisters and their husbands, and three nieces and two nephews.