Woman killed in three-car collision in Puyallup area identified by medical examiner
A woman killed after two vehicles struck the Subaru she was in with her daughter and another man in Puyallup last week has been identified, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Mary Delreco, 64 of Orting, died from multiple blunt-force injuries near the 5700 block of 176th Street East on Jan. 17. Her manner of death was listed as an accident, the medical examiner said in a news release.
Delreco was the rear passenger of the car while her daughter was driving, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department on Facebook.
Matthew Rousseau, the driver’s boyfriend, told The News Tribune on Friday that he was in the passenger seat of the Subaru and fled the scene after the crash. Sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss confirmed that investigators learned later a third person was in the Subaru who was witnessed running away after the collision.
Witnesses told deputies that the Subaru was traveling at high speed and went through a red light on 70th Avenue East. At the same time, a pickup carrying a man and his 2-year-old son, made a legal U-turn. The truck struck the driver’s side of the Subaru. A white van that had been following the Subaru crashed into it before driving off.
Delreco was pronounced deceased at the scene, and the Subaru driver, a 26-year-old woman, was seriously injured. Rousseau said he also received some minor but painful injuries. The man and his son in the pickup were uninjured, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Rousseau said his girlfriend’s back was broken, and he is unsure if she will survive or ever walk again. He said Delreco was with them because she had cancer and his girlfriend was her caretaker.
The driver of the white van, a 29-year-old man, called to report that he had been chasing the Subaru as it was stolen. Deputies asked the man to come back to the scene so they could speak to him, but he did not show up. The man called back and claimed his van had been stolen and he could not return, the post said.
Rousseau said the Subaru was not stolen but borrowed from the van driver. He told The News Tribune his girlfriend argued with the van driver and that the man threatened them and later chased them, which was why they were driving at high speed.
“And not many people knew that I was in the car because after the crash I saw that he was driving straight at me, and I jumped out the way and I ran for my life,” he said. “And I hid and I was so scared to even come forward or anything.”
A relative of the women arrived at the crash scene after the incident and told deputies that the Subaru’s driver had been driving it for weeks. The relative also said the car was not stolen and that the woman and the registered owner had an argument right before she took the car and drove away, the post said.
The Subaru driver could face possible vehicular homicide charges. The van’s driver is facing felony hit-and-run charges, the Sheriff’s Department said on Facebook.
