'Too Young To Die': 2 Teens Killed In Pasco Crash Mourned

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 near Hudson.

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 the Monday crash, which happened about 7:15 p.m.

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.

"They both pretty much died immediately," said Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins.

Both teens were wearing their seat belts but the combined 100 mph force of the impact was too much, he said.

It's not clear why Dyer swerved out of her lane. The crash is still under investigation, Gaskins said, but added it appeared that 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" senior.

"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.

Meanwhile, back in Pasco County another family was mourning the death of their young loved one. 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.

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 said at their home Tuesday.

She was on her way to her boyfriend's house when she was killed, he said.

But it wasn't just the two teens who died, he said. Dyer was pregnant with her first child.

"They couldn't save the baby," Carrion said.

Recently, Dyer had moved in to her boyfriend's home not too far from the crash site, he said. She had text-messaged with her boyfriend one last time on her way home from work and was supposed to pick up a few things from the grocery store and get back with him.

The next text message never came. Her boyfriend went looking for her.

"He found the accident," Pete Carrion said.

Several hours later, 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 a younger Dyer 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 deputy returned it from the scene.