A 53-year-old woman was killed in a multiple-vehicle crash on the Maine Turnpike on Monday night.
State police said they responded to a crash on Interstate 95 in Saco at 7:17 p.m. involving a tractor-trailer and two other vehicles. Their initial investigation showed that the driver of a Volvo S40 sedan rear-ended a Jeep Compass. The crash resulted in the Volvo spinning out and coming to a stop in the middle of the three lanes direclty in front of a tractor-trailer, resulting in a significant crash between those two vehicles.
After being rear-ended, the Jeep was able to continue up the roadway, stopping safetly a short distance ahead.
The tractor-trailer wound up going through the median guardrail, resulting in a closure of all three lanes northbound and the passing lane southbound for several hours. Northbound traffic was able to keep moving in the breakdown lane.
The driver of the Volvo, identified by police as Deirdre Winberg, 53, of West Bath, was taken to Maine Medical Center with critical injuries and later died.
The driver of the Jeep, identified as 33-year-old Alica Preston, of Portland, was taken to Maine Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer, 36-year-old Norvel Jackson, of Faiburn, Georgia, was not injured.
The crash remains under investigation by state police.
