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Head-On Crash Kills Spiritual Adviser, Police Dispatcher

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By JO-ANN JOHNSTON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

DADE CITY - An early morning, head-on collision Friday on U.S. 301 in Hernando County claimed the lives of two women, one of whom had just come off her shift working as a police dispatcher.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Ariel Monet, 45, of Safety Harbor, was traveling south on the two-lane highway near Ridge Manor when she crossed the center lane at about 3:15 a.m. and hit the car in the northbound lane. Driving that car was the other victim, 21-year-old Akeyleia Prophete, a Dade City Police Department dispatcher.

Neither woman was wearing her seat belt, the highway patrol report states.

The women's families and friends still were shocked Friday.

Monet was a spiritual adviser at the Earth Spirit Center in Safety Harbor, according to Nana Hendricks, a close friend. Monet had left an earlier career as an architect to focus on spiritual development for the past several years, Hendricks said.

'So many people called her an angel,' Hendricks said of Monet.

Monet lived in Safety Harbor at Hendricks' home. Recently, however, she had been housesitting for another friend who lives near Dade City. It wasn't clear to Hendricks where Monet had been headed at the time of the crash.

Prophete lived with her family in Zephyrhills. After finishing her 10-hour shift on Friday morning, though, she was probably on her way to Bushnell to her boyfriend's home, said Dade City Police Sgt. James Walters.

'The whole city will be in mourning over this loss,' Walters said. 'She was such a genuine, great person.'

Prophete had been hired onto the small municipal police force in December. 'She was really turning into a good dispatcher,' in spite of her youth and the demands of the job, said Laura Beagles, director of administrative services.
Police dispatchers answer emergency calls, determine the urgency of the situation and get the officers to the scene. The job description sounds straightforward, but callers in emergency situations are sometimes so agitated, frantic, or hurt that they have a hard time explaining what happened or what they need.

Prophete, by projecting a reassuring tone, was able to calm people and extract the necessary information, Beagles said. 'The officers had a tremendous amount of respect for her.'

The young woman was hired by Dade City after working at a variety of customer-service jobs locally. She had taken some courses at Pasco-Hernando Community College, and graduated from Wesley Chapel High School in 2004, where she was an honors student. 'She was just an all-around good student,' said Andrew Frelick, school principal.

Prophete would have been 22 on Oct. 31. Her mother, Yvonne Smith of Zephyrhills, said Milton Funeral Home in Dade City will handle funeral arrangements.

Monet's friends have arranged a memorial service at 6 p.m. Thursday at Philippe Park, a 122-acre Pinellas County park preserve in Safety Harbor, at 2525 Philippe Parkway.

This report includes information gathered by News Channel 8 reporter Rod Challenger. Reporter Jo-Ann Johnston can be reached at (352) 521-3062 or jfjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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