Fatal crash from expressway ramp remains mystery
Family reported Ontelaunee Township woman missing
The family of a Berks County woman who was found dead Saturday, Jan. 21, at the scene of a crashed SUV in Wyomissing — well below a pair of expressway ramps and out of sight of passing motorists — reported her missing Friday, police said.
Celines C. Suarez, 38, of Ontelaunee Township was reported missing Friday, Jan. 20, to Northern Berks Regional Police Department by concerned family members who hadn’t seen or heard from her for two days, Wyomissing Police Chief John Phillips said Tuesday, Jan. 24. The family reported they last had contact with her last Wednesday.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, about noon, a motorist called 911 to report a crashed vehicle and a woman’s body near the bottom of a ramp off the Warren Street Bypass. The motorist reportedly stopped along an elevated ramp to change a flat and saw the SUV and a woman’s body below in a small, wooded area surrounding a drainage swale.
Suarez had been thrown by the vehicle and died of multiple injuries, according to the Berks County coroner’s office, which ruled her death accidental.
Phillips said officials remain uncertain about the date of the crash and from which expressway ramp it happened.
Investigators believe it occurred between Wednesday and Friday night, and probably during the overnight hours when traffic flow on the heavily traveled corridor is lightest and would be less likely that someone would notice a vehicle plummeting down the embankment.
Phillips said the SUV likely crashed from one of two ramps:
• The long ramp that starts near the Inn at Reading and carries northbound Route 222 traffic over the Warren Street Bypass before connecting with the main travel lanes of Route 222 near the Broadcasting Road exit.
• The ramp that carries traffic exiting from eastbound Route 12 and merging with eastbound Route 422 (West Shore Bypass).
Phillips said police are looking for witnesses so they can put a date on the crash and resolve other questions. Anyone who may have witnessed the crash is asked to call Wyomissing Police Department at 610-375-6102.