43
Coroner IDs car crash victim
Video
The car went airborne before hitting the tree.
YOUNGSTOWN — The woman found dead on her birthday inside a car that careened over a cliff on the South Side has been identified by the Mahoning County coroner as Danielle D. Daniels of Youngstown.
“Today is her 28th birthday,” her mother Lorraine Daniels, 47, of East Dewey Avenue said Wednesday. “She was going to her boyfriend’s house in Campbell after work early Sunday but didn’t show up. I don’t know what happened but I know where she’s at now.”
Coroner Dr. David Kennedy said the death is under investigation.
Police who were called to the intersection of Erie Street and East Dewey around 12:15 p.m. Wednesday found a 1999 beige Buick Le-Sabre lodged against a tree in the ravine.
Within minutes, accident investigators and detectives were called to the scene and yellow tape was used to encircle the crash site. Jesse Hoffman, a coroner’s investigator, talked to a family member to arrange identification at the morgue.
Although a guardrail is in place along the bridge on Dewey that spans the ravine, no guardrail is installed at the corner, where the car entered and began its descent. Lt. Bill Rafferty said the vehicle went airborne and traveled 60 to 70 feet before hitting the tree.
Erica Jackson, who watched as investigators gingerly made their way down the icy slope to retrieve the body, said the woman inside the car was her cousin Danielle. Jackson said family members searched over the weekend for Danielle and then reported her missing Monday.
“We looked down there,” Lorraine Daniels said of the ravine. “It’s a very busy street, a lot of traffic.”