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2 Families, School Mourn Teens Killed In Crash

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By LISA A. DAVIS ldavis@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2008

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  Alessandra Augello

Alyssa Dyer

SHADY HILLS - Students at Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School began and closed their school day the same way: with a prayer vigil for fellow student Alessandra Augello, one of two teenagers who died Monday night after a collision less than a mile from the school.

Tuesday morning, Bishop McLaughlin parent Diana Gosnell placed a cross and a rosary on a yellow roadside marker near the crash site.

"Too young to die; too young to die," Gosnell said repeatedly as she walked away.

Augello, 17, of Spring Hill, and 19-year-old Alyssa Annmarie Dyer of Hudson both died at the scene of Monday's crash, which happened about 7:15 p.m. Dyer was pregnant.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Dyer was driving east on Hudson Avenue when her car veered into the westbound lane and struck the front of Augello's 2003 Saturn, spinning it out of control. Dyer's car also spun and overturned, landing on its passenger side on the south shoulder.

Both teens were wearing their seat belts but the combined force of the impact, estimated at 100 mph, was too much, said Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins.

It's not clear why Dyer swerved out of her lane. The crash is still under investigation, Gaskins said, adding it appeared Dyer was speeding.

Bishop McLaughlin Principal Sarah Regan said Augello, a senior who went by the name Ally, was scheduled to play the part of Mickey in a school performance of "The Odd Couple" this weekend and was on her way home from play rehearsal when the accident happened.

"The students need to figure out what they want to do about the play," Regan said.

Regan said Augello was an "enthusiastic and energetic" student.

"It's really tough here," she said.

By Tuesday afternoon, school officials still weren't sure the show would go on.

Augello's family declined to comment to a reporter who visited their Spring Hill home.

Alyssa Dyer's mother died six years ago after a long illness, and since she was 4, Alyssa had been raised by her grandmother, Helen "Betsy" Carrion, and several relatives. In July 2007, Dyer moved in to her grandmother's Beacon Woods condominium in Hudson.

Dyer had attended Hudson High but dropped out within the past year, earned her GED, went to Certified Nursing Assistant training and began pursuing a nursing career, her step-grandfather, Pedro "Pete" Carrion, 70, said at their home Tuesday.

She was on her way to the home she shared with her fiance when she was killed, he said.

Shortly before the crash Dyer sent a text message to Nick Schewe, saying she loved him and she was on her way home. Schewe tried to call her back, he said, and couldn't get through.

"I just got a feeling in my stomach something was wrong," he said.

Schewe went looking for her and saw the flashing lights as he drove to Hudson Avenue near Hays Road.

"My heart just sank," he said.

An officer told him Dyer had died.

"She has a baby in her belly," Schewe told him.

The officer went running but the baby couldn't be saved, Schewe later learned.

Dyer was five months pregnant with her first child. On Tuesday, they were supposed to go ring shopping. They had planned a courthouse wedding for before the baby was born, followed by a ceremony after the birth.

"She didn't want to be pregnant in her dress and in the pictures," said Schewe, 25.

"I just feel like I lost the biggest thing in my life," he said.

Several hours passed after the crash before a highway patrol trooper knocked on the Carrions' door and told them the news.

"She had her whole life ahead of her and she had her hopes," Pete Carrion said, sitting at his dining table with a credenza filled with family photos.

Carrion pointed to a photograph of Dyer, slightly younger, dressed in pink and flashing a sweet smile.

To his left on the table was a large sealed baggie with a woman's black wallet inside. Carrion said it belonged to his step-granddaughter and the trooper returned it from the scene.

Betsy Carrion spent part of Tuesday trying to make funeral arrangements for the young woman who was more like a daughter.

"She really held a special place in my heart," Betsy Carrion, 65, said later by telephone. "We just were very, very close."

The grandmother hadn't seen Dyer much since she moved in to her boyfriend's home several months ago, but it was just two weeks ago the teen visited Carrion at her job in the bakery at Publix at Little Road and State Road 52.

She told her she was expecting a baby.

"It's such a tragedy all the way around," Betsy Carrion said. "It's such a waste of two lives, her and the other girl. My heart goes out to them too."

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083. News Channel 8 reporter Krista Klaus and Hernando Today reporter Kyle Martin contributed to this report.

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