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Hundreds attend vigil for Harding senior killed in car crash
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
As police continued this week to investigate what caused a rollover crash that killed Alyssa B. Wynn, 17, on Thursday, her little brother, Jonathan, expressed a simpler thought.
“I remember all the fun we had. I want her back,” he said from a wheelchair in front of hundreds of people at the entrance to Warren G. Harding High School on Tuesday night.
“I might not have been the best brother. Please come back,” he said.
Jonathan, 10, survived the wreck, along with his mother, Jodi Weaver, 40, who was driving. Both were injured and both were wearing leg braces during a candlelight vigil that included singing by the Harding choir, of which Alyssa was a four-year member.
Alyssa was planning to continue her education in the fall at Pittsburgh Technical Institute.
After the choir finished singing, Weaver thanked them, saying, “I love you all for being here.”
A Warren police report released Tuesday says Weaver told them she lost control of the 2002 Dodge pickup truck as she tried to avoid a white vehicle that cut in front of her on West Market Street as she was heading west at 5:30 p.m.
She told The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, 21 WFMJ-TV, that she veered into a pothole after that, causing a wheel to come off, before the truck left the road.
Police said the truck rolled over at least two times before coming to rest against the Raider Lounge tavern, 1854 W. Market Street. Weaver and her family live on Rex Boulevard Northwest.
Police said they have been unable so far to confirm that a white vehicle may have been involved or to identify the person driving it. They said they have no eyewitnesses to the accident.
Alcohol use is not suspected. Alyssa was in the front seat with her mother and was partially ejected, the report says. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Jonathan was in the back seat.
“She was amazing. She was so special. She is an angel, and she is looking down on us,” said Keith Rising, the Harding choir director. “I can’t express how much I miss her and our kids miss her.”