Published: September 05, 2007 08:11 am      

Three local women killed in 2 crashes

A Virginia man won’t soon forget the quiet and stillness he observed among the mangled wreckage Monday of a fatal crash involving two Richmond, Ky., women.

While returning home from celebrating his oldest daughter’s 22nd birthday, Doug McDaniel’s son, Lance, noticed a Jeep Compass over an embankment on what McDaniel described as a remote Virginia roadway about a half-mile from his home.

“I said, ‘This is not right,’ and made a U-turn at the next cross-over and returned to the scene,” McDaniel said. “I am thankful he was looking down there. One of the deputies said, ‘If your son had not seen the Jeep, it may have been a long time before anyone would have seen the vehicle. It is just not a place where you gaze.”

Upon returning to the crash site, McDaniel said he and his son ran down the embankment through a thick undergrowth while his wife stopped cars asking people to call 911.

“The Jeep was in an upright position against the tree with the underneath side exposed.” McDaniel said. “I knew it was not an old wreck. There was fresh fluid and fresh cut debris and the tree had clean markings from the impact. All the windows were still in the car, so I figured somebody was still in there. I tried my best to get in the car and finally opened a rear passenger door.

“It was quiet and (there was) no movement in the car,” McDaniel continued. “My son went back to our house to get (a machete and an ax) so we could get to the driver side of the car. By this time, help had arrived. After a few minutes of cutting, I was able to get the rear driver door open and got a better view. But, there was nothing we could do but pray and try to tell the people in the car we were going to get them out.”

The vehicle’s occupants, Ruby Denny Rawlins, 79, and her daughter, Patricia Rawlins, 50, died at a hospital in Stuart, Va., after their Jeep ran off the roadway and struck an embankment, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a Richmond, Va., newspaper, reported. McDaniel thinks the women died before ever reaching the hospital, he said.

“I feel the Rawlins’ did not suffer any pain,” he said. “It was as if (the Jeep) just dropped in — so not much around the wreck was disturbed. I really don’t know how long the Jeep had been there, but the quietness told me it had been a little while. One would expect to hear metal cooling off or steam. Also, the Jeep had the underside exposed and the muffler and tail pipes seemed cool. We noticed we didn’t feel any heat from any part of the Jeep.”

Funeral arrangements for the Rawlins’ are incomplete, and will be announced by Combs, Parsons & Collins Funeral Home. McDaniel said the traumatic experience has had quite an effect on his family.

“Today has been worse than yesterday after the finality of it all has settled in,” McDaniel said. “We felt a closeness to the women like we were the last ones to help. It is all we can think about. What the families are going through must be terrible. My wife, especially, was in shock for awhile after the wreck. With all the women’s belongings and personal items in the car, it was evident these were real people like us who had their precious lives taken.

“... May God help the families,” he said. “We are truly sorry we couldn’t do more.”

Saturday, another Richmond woman was killed in Lincoln County. Ninety-year-old Mary Pace reportedly failed to stop at an intersection and traveled into the path of Lloyd Morrow, 75, of Lancaster.

Pace was driving her 1996 Saturn north on KY 2141 just north of Hustonville when she collided with Morrow’s Ford Windstar minivan. Morrow had three passengers in the van — Carolyn Morrow, 80, Nelson Slone, 57, both of Lancaster, and Karen Heichel, 64, of McKinney.

“(Pace and Morrow) came to final rest against a rock wall on the shoulder of the roadway,” a Kentucky State Police press release stated.

Pace and two of the Windstar passengers were flown to University of Kentucky Medical Center, where Pace died at 5 p.m., the KSP release stated. An ambulance transported the remaining passengers to Ephraim McDowell Hospital in Danville. KSP Trooper Eric Taylor still is investigating the crash.

Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.