STOW – More details emerged Monday about the car crash Sunday night that sent a woman to the hospital and shut down Route 113 from Gilead to Fryeburg for nearly two hours.
According to Cpl. Tim Ontengco of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department, Terrie Ayers, 38, of Chatham, N.H., was driving south in heavy rain through Evans Notch in the White Mountain National Forest in a 1994 Ford Bronco when the vehicle careened off the road and slammed into a “large hemlock tree.”
Ontengco said Ayers was taken by Fryeburg Rescue to the Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., for leg injuries. A hospital spokesperson said she was treated and released within hours.
Ayers’ passenger, Dale E. Eastman, 38, of Chatham, N.H., was unharmed except for some “bumps and bruises,” Ontengco said.
The Ford Bronco, owned by Eastman, was “totaled,” Ontengco said. He added that Ayers estimated she was going about 30 miles per hour when the truck hit the tree, though he guessed the vehicle was moving somewhat faster.
Ontengco said the accident, which is still under investigation, probably happened between 8 and 8:30 p.m. He said that Oxford County Sheriff’s Department received the call around 9 p.m.
Eastman walked about two miles south on Route 113 to North Fryeburg to get help, Ontengco said, most likely from his father, who lives in the area and works for Fryeburg Rescue.
“I’m assuming he went to his father’s,” he said.
Ontengco said he found alcohol in the forest about 100 feet from the accident scene. He said he suspects it was placed there by someone in an attempt to “hide evidence.”
Ayers was charged with operating under the influence, Ontengco said, and Eastman was released without being charged.
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