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Friends, Family Mourn Women Killed On I-4

News Channel 8

The accident, which closed two eastbound lanes, snarled traffic along I-4 for several hours.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2007

Updated: 09/13/2007 06:59 pm

Video From The Scene

TAMPA - Family and friends of "a true Florida girl" who loved surfing, and her friend who knew a close "Cheers-type crowd" through her job as a bartender, mourned their deaths on Thursday, a day after they were struck and killed crossing Interstate 4 in the rain.

Cammie Krusoe

Cammie Krusoe, 26, and Megan Thompson, 28, both of Tampa, were crossing the eastbound lanes near the Ford Amphitheatre about 8:35 p.m. Wednesday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Krusoe's family said she had won tickets to the Dave Matthews Band concert at the amphitheater that evening.

Each woman was struck twice, first by a car in the inside eastbound lane, then by another vehicle, Trooper Larry Coggins said.

"We know it was raining at the time and visibility was reduced," he said.

Megan Thompson

A 2006 Toyota driven by Bjorn Vijayanagar, 33, of Tampa, struck the women first. The initial impact flung Krusoe into the eastbound center lane, where a 1999 Ford driven by Angela Peacock, 34, of Mulberry, ran over her, troopers said.

Thompson was thrown into the path of an eastbound 2004 Audi driven by Danielle Murphy, 24, of Riverview, and she was run over, troopers said.

No charges were immediately filed because the investigation is ongoing; however, as pedestrians, the women had violated the drivers' right of way, Coggins said.

"Pedestrian traffic is against the law on the interstate system," Coggins said.

A Tampa native whose family described her as "a true Florida girl," Krusoe was the youngest of three children, her family said. Public records show her sister, Kallie, is a teacher at Muller Elementary.

Cammie Krusoe graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in advertising, her family said. As a child, she won two national YMCA Junior Championships in gymnastics and made the state finals as a competitive diver for Gaither High School.

"She was a bright, energetic woman who had an uncanny ability to brighten every room," the family said in a prepared statement.

Attempts to reach Thompson's relatives were unsuccessful, but friend Beryl Morton remembered her as always smiling and cheerful.

Thompson had graduated from the University of Tampa with a degree in sports medicine; she had made many friends through a job as a bartender at the Tampa Ale House in Carrollwood, Morton wrote in an e-mail.

Morton said as news of Thompson's death rippled through her circle of friends, many of their "Cheers-type crowd" gathered at the ale house to share memories and comfort each other. "She was just an amazing, beautiful person whose smile and laughter just filled a room," Morton wrote. "We are all in such shock that we have lost such an amazing person who was such a big part of so many people's lives."

Krusoe currently worked in "sales in the liquor industry" and relished rooting for the Buccaneers, spending time with her dogs and savoring gourmet food, her family said.

On her MySpace.com page, Krusoe wrote how much she enjoyed skating, snowboarding, bull-riding and other sports. "My family is all from Michigan, and somehow I was lucky to be born where the sun shines and it's warm," she wrote.

Friends such as Shannon Harrington posted memorial messages to her Thursday afternoon: "Love you so much, Cammie. You were my best friend. You are gone now, and I don't know what to do. I am lost. I can't even close my eyes to sleep. All I think about is you and your tragic accident."

News Channel 8 reporter Jennifer Leigh and reporter Chris Echegaray contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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