I went to high school with this girl. I didn't know her, other than to know who she was - she graduated two years ahead of me at William Floyd High School, but was in choir and shows and such. She was beautiful. She taught elementary school music. She directed the choir at my church. She'd only been married for five months, to a man who proposed to her in front of her students and their parents at a holiday concert she was conducting, dressed in a Frosty the Snowman suit. And now she's dead, killed at my freaking high school bus stop. Less than a block from the house I lived in in NY. My parents' house. My house. Killed by a coward who was driving a stolen vehicle, was speeding, hit her car, and then RAN AWAY.
COWARD. Lying, thieving, murdering COWARD. Turn yourself in, you piece of shit, scum, disgusting sorry excuse for a human being COWARD!!!!!
I don't get it.
Newsday takes articles down and makes them subscription-only after a certain amount of time, so the text of the article is in the extended entry.
Newlywed Killed In Crash
By Denise M. Bonilla
Staff Writer
January 31, 2004, 9:43 PM EST
They were only three blocks from home and their cozy bed on Tyne Road in Shirley. Newlyweds JoAnna and William Berggren, both 29, were coming back from baby-sitting her sister's children in Mastic Beach, when a driver in a stolen Jeep plowed through a stop sign and slammed into their car.
JoAnna Berggren, a beloved elementary school music teacher and church choir director, died from injuries received in the crash. Her husband of five months remains hospitalized. The driver of the other vehicle has not been found by police. "She was loved by everyone, she inspired everyone," her sister Angela Zippel, 36, said through tears yesterday. "She was an angel. I can't believe this happened."
The couple, who lived with JoAnna's parents, were heading west on Tyne Road about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when a 2001 white Jeep Cherokee came barreling south on Lexington Road and plowed through a stop sign, Suffolk police said. The Jeep struck the passenger side of the Berggrens' 2001 Mitsubishi Galant, then came to a stop a half-block away, its occupant fleeing on foot.
JoAnna, who had been in the passenger seat, was pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center. Her husband was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital in stable condition, police said.
Police said the Jeep is a Verizon four-door work vehicle that was reported stolen Friday afternoon from a company repair yard in Holbrook. Seventh Squad Det. Lt. Tom O'Heir said the Verizon emblem on the side of the vehicle was painted over with white paint, O'Heir said.
O'Heir said the jeep was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck the Berggrens' car. The speed limit for that area is 30 mph, he said. The investigation is continuing. JoAnna Berggren was a music teacher for Boyle Road Elementary School in Port Jefferson Station, where she was the director of the school's drama club.
She performed in theater productions herself throughout school, graduating from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach in 1992 and from Wagner College in Staten Island in 1996. She later earned a master's degree from Stony Brook University. Berggren's passion in life was music, her sister said. She sang every Sunday at the 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Jude's Church in Mastic Beach, where she was also the choir director. Funeral services will be held there.
Last summer, she sang the National Anthem at a Long Island Ducks baseball game. "She had a beautiful voice," her sister said. "I told her 'Why don't you go out for American Idol?' but she said she was too old."
Berggren married in August of last year. On the LI Weddings Web site, JoAnna wrote that in December 2001, William, a truck driver, proposed to her by dressing up as Frosty the Snowman during a winter concert at her school, popping the question in front of all her students and their parents.
Physically, William will recover, her sister said, but the loss of his wife has left him devastated. JoAnna " just made everybody so happy," her sister said. "And this guy who did this has got to come forward. I don't know how he can live with himself." Police are requesting help from anyone who may have noticed a white 2001 four-door Jeep Cherokee being driven in an erratic or suspicious manner. Anyone with information is asked to call Seventh Squad detectives at 631-852-8752 or Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
Kate...
They had the street closed most of the day on Saturday and a detective asked us if we heard anything. Mom was awake, but only heard the sirens & helicopter, but nothing from before.
Very sad.
Church was really bad. From 2nd hand info, the children's mass (at 9.30am-where she was the choir director for the children's choir) was bad. All the children were crying and a mess. Deacon Ken ('nother deacon at St. Jude's) got all choked up during Sunday mass. Father Baidoo announced it at the 11am mass. Mr & Mrs. Kruk (owners of Roma Funeral Home on Wm. Floyd) will probably be handling the wake and stuff!
I hope they find this person soon!
Renee
Posted by: Renee at February 3, 2004 02:44 PMThanks for the info. The detectives knocked on my mom's door too, but she hadn't heard anything - she was in bed when it happened. I can't even imagine how there might have been a dry eye at the 9:30.
Posted by: Kat at February 3, 2004 05:28 PMHi, I just wanted to say I knew her too and she was a sweet and special person. It's a terrible tragedy and I hope they catch the person who did it.
Posted by: Daniella at February 6, 2004 11:32 AMshe was my chior teacher and i miss her soo much people say although she was young she lived a full life but that was her full life she could have had a mid life crisis at 14 or 15 because that was the middle of her life i do not understand why these things happen and all i can do is cry. i had to be a alter server at her fuenual (note that i can not spell) and i did not want to be because i had another world in my head that she was not dead and i still feel this way. the jerk that killed her better pay because i do not no what ill do if he does not. he killed an angel!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: bernadette at March 14, 2004 05:21 PMHello,
I came across this site by mistake. I truly hope that by now, almost three months later, they have located the evil that did this. God bless you all, and especially her family and friends and children who knew her. It's obvious from your words about her that she was a special person. We've had our share of hit and runs in my city recently, and I just don't understand it.
Cowards.
God bless you all.
Jennifer
Posted by: Jennifer at April 29, 2004 03:14 PMJoanna was my aunt. i miss her so much. i can barley sit through a mass anymore. when they sing the songs she used to.. all i hear is her voice. i pray to her every night. i just wish she would come back...
Posted by: amber at September 18, 2006 05:22 PMI was a student of Mrs. Berggren's at Boyle Road and i was in her Chorus class.
I still think about her a lot and remember a lot of good times in her class. She had a song that I think she made up calledd "I'm in the mood for singing." She would make us sing it in the beginning of every class and i still remember every word of it and i sing it to myself sometimes. I also know she loved betty boop!! and i once gave her this ring with a ball on it. betty boops face would spin in it. She had this big book with lots of songs in it, and sometimes at the end of class we would gather around the piano and she would pick someone to tell her a number..then she would look for that page # and what ever the song on that page was she would play it and we would sing. When we came back to school after the summer, she told us her new name, Mrs. Berggren. She would say mrs. berrrr griiinnnnn! and when she said grin she would make a big smile and put her fingers at each end of her mouth. There are so many other thing i can remember. I loved her class and of corse her! Mrs. Berggren is and will ALWAYS be remembered.!
RIP <33
Posted by: Nicole at January 25, 2008 01:33 PMI was a student of Mrs. Berggren's at Boyle Road and i was in her Chorus class.
I still think about her a lot and remember a lot of good times in her class. She had a song that I think she made up calledd "I'm in the mood for singing." She would make us sing it in the beginning of every class and i still remember every word of it and i sing it to myself sometimes. I also know she loved betty boop!! and i once gave her this ring with a ball on it. betty boops face would spin in it. She had this big book with lots of songs in it, and sometimes at the end of class we would gather around the piano and she would pick someone to tell her a number..then she would look for that page # and what ever the song on that page was she would play it and we would sing. When we came back to school after the summer, she told us her new name, Mrs. Berggren. She would say mrs. berrrr griiinnnnn! and when she said grin she would make a big smile and put her fingers at each end of her mouth. There are so many other thing i can remember. I loved her class and of corse her! Mrs. Berggren is and will ALWAYS be remembered.!
RIP <33
Posted by: Nicole at January 25, 2008 01:34 PM