Dozens of weeping Long Island teenagers gathered at separate wakes yesterday to mourn the deaths of two 18-year-old friends killed when their car – driven by their best friend – crashed during a drug- and alcohol-fueled midnight run.
Heather Brownrigg, a popular cheerleader and aspiring gourmet cook from Islip, and Jennifer Williams, of Bay Shore, died early Friday when their car, driven by April Brown, 18, careened into an SUV at an intersection on Sunrise Highway in Eastport.
Brown survived the crash unscathed and was charged with DWI, and prosecutors are considering additional charges of manslaughter and drug possession after cops found bottles of beer and a marijuana pipe in the car.
More than 100 of Brownrigg’s friends and relatives filed into the Overton Funeral Home in Islip yesterday to mourn the blond-haired beauty.
“She kept everyone’s spirits up,” said April Cacopeido, 18, who stood in a somber line of black-clad girlfriends next to a group of teenage boys in dark suits and ties.
Schoolmates described Brownrigg as a “shore girl” who loved Long Island’s beaches.
“She respected everyone,” said Islip HS schoolmate Edward Schlageter, 18. “She was a kindhearted person. Always a smile on her face.”
At a separate wake at the Meserole Funeral Home in Inwood, friends described Jennifer Williams as a sentimental Celine Dion fan who watched the Lifetime channel obsessively and favored intimate dramas about the private struggles of American women.
Cameron Ayres, 18, a freshman at Nassau Community College who lived around the corner from Williams, said she met her six years ago when they were both students at Bay Shore Middle School.
“She was my best friend,” Ayres said. “I’d call her my sister if I could. She loved those sad movies, and she knew every one of them by heart.”
Ayres said Brown has become a “complete wreck” since the fatal crash.
She said many people in the community were angry at the coverage of the accident, which cited police and court records showing the teens had been lost and intoxicated when their car crashed.
“[Brown] is not a party girl,” Ayres said. “They said she was driving recklessly, but if I was lost like that, I’d be crazy, too.”
Rosalie Carollo, 18, of Bay Shore, said she intended to go to both wakes.
“We lost two people in one day,” she said. “It’s just awful, and people have the wrong idea about what happened. As soon as they hear that teenagers are involved, they think it’s about drinking and smoking.”
Ironically, Bay Shore HS – where three of the car’s passengers had gone to school – held a rally last week for the group Students Against Destructive Decisions.