Police are seeking the drivers responsible for two separate hit-and-run incidents that resulted in two deaths on a highway in Maryland last week.
Sandra Abarca Orellana, a 52-year-old mother of three, was struck and killed by a motorist just after 9 p.m. on Thursday. She was crossing Route 210 in Oxon Hill to get to a bus stop. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The motorist reportedly left the scene.
Loretta Lynn Canter-Andrews, a 40-year-old mother of three, was fatally struck on Route 210 near Farmington Road in Accokeek at around 9:50 p.m. on Friday. She was also pronounced dead at the scene.
The preliminary investigation by police indicated the driver hit Canter-Andrews in the northbound lanes of the highway and left the scene.
Nearly 100 deaths have been reported on Highway 210 since 2007, earning it the nickname the "Highway of Death."
This year, 21 people were killed on the roadway, with 11 reported hit-and-run incidents, according to data from the Route 210 Traffic Safety Committee.
"I was hoping we could make it through the rest of the year without another fatality, and being so close to Thanksgiving, it's just so sad," committee founder Ron Weiss told NBC Washington.
No description was given for the vehicle involved in Canter-Andrews' death, but the car that struck Orellana has been described as a burgundy four-door sedan. The car was last seen heading north on Oxon Hill Road toward Tanger Outlets National Harbor.
Canter-Andrews' family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.
"If she would have made it another month, she could have made Thanksgiving, her birthday and Christmas," her son told the outlet.
Canter-Andrews's daughter described her mother as "the most loving and caring person that there ever was."
The Route 210 Traffic Safety Committee helped get speed cameras installed along the highway. The committee has also pushed for legislation to increase speed camera fines based on how fast drivers are traveling, but the bills have failed to pass through the state legislature.
The committee also sought to institute stiffer fines for repeat offenders before dropping the request in hopes of getting more support for the legislation.
Anyone with information about Canter-Andrews' case is asked to call Prince George's Police Department at 301-731-4422. Anyone with information on Orellana's case is asked to call the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit at 301-731-4422.
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