Woman jailed for fatal DUI crash

West Chester couple died in February incident

A woman who killed a West Chester couple in a head-on collision admitted that she was driving drunk when she rammed into their car at a high speed on the aptly named “Cemetery Hill” outside the borough earlier this year.

Jennifer Lynn DiCecco of West Whiteland was sentenced to 6½ to 13 years in state prison on dual counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence for the February deaths of Roque Rangel-Marmolejo and Maria Rangel-Gutierrez, both 63.

Chester County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Sarcione accepted DiCecco’s pleas and imposed the sentence that had been negotiated by the District Attorney’s Office and her attorney after hearing from one of the couple’s children, who had traveled from their native Mexico to address the court, and her.

“You left me without parents, my children without grandparents, and my nieces and nephews without great-grandparents,” said Alejandro Rabel-Gutierrez, one of four children left behind by the couple’s death. “You have left us with an impossible pain to overcome.

“I hope that someday you will understand this fatal tragedy, which was caused by a few hours of fun, has already left 11 months of suffering and pain,” he said in a letter read by District Attorney Chief of Staff Charles Gaza, who prosecuted the case. “You killed innocent people who are my parents, and that is nothing but a bit of sin on your part.”

Gaza also read statements by the couple’s other children — two daughters and one other son — who could not attend the proceeding Friday.

“This case is another sad reminder that alcohol and driving do not mix,” Gaza said afterwards. “The lives of two families were tragically and permanently altered today. The District Attorney’s Office can only hope that this sentence will deter others from getting behind the wheel after they have had alcohol.

Attorney Daniel Bush of the West Chester law firm of Lamb McErlane said after the sentencing that his client apologized to the family and said she wished very much that she could take back her actions.

“This is a horrible tragedy where no words or actions

at this point can undue the damage done,” Bush said. “Ms. DiCecco realized that and today wanted to close the wounds and hopes to let the healing begin.”

The crash occurred around 11:45 p.m. on Feb. 10 on Pottstown Pike in West Goshen on the stretch of road that runs between three cemeteries and has been the site of multiple fatalities over the years, garnering its nickname. Police investigators found that DiCecco, 48, had been speeding north on the road when the crash occurred, on her way home on nearby Retford Lane less than four miles away, after a night out drinking at a restaurant in West Chester.

Information taken from the airbag control computer

in her 2018 Volvo showed the car had been traveling at speeds up to 97 miles per hour in the five seconds before the impact.

Officer Joseph Virgillo said in an arrest affidavit that DiCecco’s Volvo S90 had had crossed into the southbound lane of traffic, hitting the 2007 Ford Escape head on and killing Rangel-Marmolejo and Rangel-Gutierrez. Officers who attended to DiCecco at the scene said they could detect an odor of alcohol on her breath when they spoke with her while she was in her car. One officer reported that he saw a pilsner beer glass sitting sideways on the open door of her glove compartment, with liquid pooling around the mouth of the glass.

DiCecco, who was taken to Paoli Memorial Hospital for treatment of injuries she suffered in the crash, told West Goshen Detective Cheryl Taylor that she had been drinking that evening, and had two “Fireballs on Ice” a drink that combines cinnamon and whisky. She said she was “flying home on Route 100,” and “must have fallen asleep” before losing control of her car.

DiCecco was arrested and charged on April 26.

DiCecco was not responsive to police at the scene, and just stared into the distance as police asked if she was okay, the criminal complaint stated. Later, at the hospital, she was interviewed by Taylor and had to be told repeatedly that the occupants of the car that she struck had been killed. She became emotional, the detective reported, but seemed to have trouble remembering and made repetitive statements. Taylor said she also had an odor of alcohol on her even after the crash, and had bloodshot eyes, a flushed face, and slurred speech.

A witness to the crash who was behind the Ford Escape said that DiCecco’s Volvo did not turn with a curve in the road and instead drifted over into the oncoming lane of traffic before colliding with the Ford. The couple did not have time to react before the collision, the witness said.

DiCecco was arrested and charged on April 26. In addition to finding alcohol in her bloodstream, police said they also found evidence of amphetamine use, according to court documents.

The plea agreement she entered into also calls for a consecutive year of probation on the charge of recklessly endangering another person following the termination of her prison sentence.

In his statement, the couple’s son attempted to put his parents’ death in perspective.

“This tragedy and pain that you did to this family could have been avoided if your parents had taught you that drinking and driving is wrong,” he said. “And my parents would not have died.”