UPDATE: Police Identify Victims from Monday’s Davidsonville Crash
April 10, 2012 
9 Comments
Update 4/10 @11 :30 a.m.: The Anne Arundel County Police Department has issued a media release about Monday’s car crash in Davidsonville that killed two people. The victims have been identified as Stephanie Noell Banchero, 26, of Gambrills and Mary Elizabeth Corkill, 70, of Davidsonville.
The report, issued by spokesman Justin Mulcahy, said that officers arrived at the scene on Davidsonville Road near Rossback Road to see heavy front end damage to both cars. The two victims were pronounced dead at the scene and Anne Arundel County Police Traffic Safety Section took charge of the investigation.
The initial report from Traffic Safety revealed that the 2002 Honda Accord driven by Banchero was traveling north on Davidsonville Road (MD-424) when it drifted off the right side of the roadway. The driver over-corrected, causing the Honda to cross the double yellow line and into oncoming southbound traffic where it collided head-on with the 2000 Cadillac SLS driven by Corkill.
The police report says that driver error appears to be a contributing factor. There is no evidence that drugs or alcohol were factors. The investigation is ongoing.
In a separate incident in Gambrills, a driver apparently crashed into a wall in an underground parking garag around 4:50 p.m. on Monday. After the crash, two elderly victims, a man and woman, were sent to Maryland Shock Trauma. The female victim later died from her injuries.
This accident happened in the 2600 block of Chapel Lake Drive in Gambrills. There are apartments, doctor’s offices and retail shops including Home Goods, David Alexander and Pier One at this location.
The driver of the car was the man, whom police are not identifying at this time. The report said that he drove down a driveway in a Hyundai Accent and hit the wall at the base of the driveway. County police from the Traffic Safety Section are investigating the crash but, according to the report, have not determined the exact cause of the accident.
The police report said that the passenger, the female, died in the hospital at approximately 10:30 p.m. At that time, the driver was listed in critical, but stable condition. Both were from Gambrills. Police are withholding their names while the investigation continues.
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(Earlier Post): Glen Miller took this photo of last night’s horrific head-on car crash on Davidsonville Road around 6 p.m. Police have not yet issued a press release with the names of the victims, but we do know that there were two female victims, one was in her early 20s, and the other was in her 60s.
The accident was in the two-lane portion of Davidsonville Road (Route 424), just north of the Route 50 interchange. The road was closed until late in the evening while police investigated the accident.
Please let us know what the accident investigators learn about the cause of this horrible accident. Perhaps there will be lessons to be learned about distracted driving or other driver errors. No need or intent to blame either driver, but anything to improve safety on the roads is worth sharing.
Our hearts go out to the Corkhill family, and our prayers are with them and the family of the other victim. What a terrible, sad accident!
I’m not sure why pictures of the mangled cars are necessary in the reports of this (or any) accident scene. They must be very disturbing to the loved ones of the injured or deceased.
My prayers go out to Stephanie’s family and loved ones (and of course the family of the other victim also). Stephanie was so young and this is obviously going to be an extremely sad time for her family, so please keep all of them in your prayers and hearts…always. So very very sad!!
Thank you for your comment Patti. I really appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.
Just to hear another side, if I may. This from my own experience. I had someone close to me who was a victim in a tragedy. I wanted to know everything about it. I wanted to stand where it had happened, I wanted to talk about it, I wanted hard evidence to help me comprehend it. I was not afraid to know more, I think because it helped me make sense of the senseless. You never really get closure because you can’t get the person back. But you can use the evidence to know that it was real, it did happen and that frees you to mourn.
That said, I could just be weird and morbid. I don’t know. I’m just giving you another view on the issue. We do try to be careful with our photos and never include victims in any photos.
I want to add that I think a photo like this is a stark reminder of the power of an automobile.
Anyway, I see both sides. Next time will try to include a warning for readers who might not want to scroll down.
Not weird or morbid. I had a similar experience and also needed to learn all I could in order to get past it. Sometimes life hurts.
My heart goes out to all families involved. But, Pictures are worth a thousand words… Pictures like this make powerful statements that we all need to hear.
Everyone has their own feelings. But I believe Understanding does help the healing process. My family went through a tragedy and finding out what happened helped to free the pain of wondering. Many thoughts go through your head as you imagine what happened. So, although painful and tragic, knowing helps ease the thoughts of what if ?? Somehow knowing, made me feel closer to my brother in-law in his time of need, although I wasn’t actually there.
Stephanie was a dear childhood friend of mine this photo is horrific but makes the reality sink inn. She was the kindest sweetest girl, everyone loved her, Prayers for her and her family and my heart goes out to the other victim as well.Life is too short.
May the thoughts, prayers and love of famiy and friends sustain the Corkhill and Banchero families during this sad, sad time.