Heartsick relatives fear little Theresa Christmas, the orphaned Queens 4-year old who survived the horrific New Jersey Turnpike pile-up that killed her parents and baby sister, is doomed to years of loneliness and desolation – just like her mother.
“It ends up she’s going to be the same as her mother – no father, no mother, nobody,” said the youngster’s devastated great-aunt, Loretta Dagliolo.
Through tears the elderly aunt explained that Theresa shares not only her mother’s first name, but also the devastating early loss of her parents.
“Now, Theresa will be just like her mom – she’ll be alone,” said Dagliolo, 83, of Astoria.
“No, it will be worse, because she’s so young, ” moaned another greataunt, Vivian Galindo, 67.
The two said the little girl’s mother, Theresa Foto, 41, lost her father at 17 and her mom at 21.
“She had a very lonely life. The only happiness she found was when she got married, and when she had the two children.
They were her life,” Dagliolo said of her niece’s husband, Charles Christmas, 41, and their daughters, Theresa and Victoria, 2.
The family was driving back to Astoria on Monday after an idyllic vacation in Ocean City, Md., when tragedy struck.
The driver of an 18-wheeler was unable to stop.
The big rig skidded against a guardrail, clipped a Mitsubishi Eclipse, and then rammed into the Christmases’ Nissan Altima, sending it careening into another tractor-trailer, which jackknifed and flattened their car.
“The truck driver is to blame,” Dagliolo said of rig owner Dimitrios Tseperkas, 46, of Port Jefferson, L.I. “They didn’t have a chance. He was driving too fast.” New Jersey state police said they are still investigating the accident.
“Little Theresa, they say she saw it all. She was in the back seat. But she hasn’t spoken about it,” said Dagliolo. “I don’t know if she knows. How could she know death – she’s only four years old!” Also killed in the turnpike pileup was Norma Ryan, 37, of Vorhees, N.Y., who was behind the wheel of a Toyota 4Runner. Three others in her car – her children, Peter, 12, and Samantha, 1, and passenger Maria Rosado, 64, of The Bronx, survived, and are in Hackensack university Hospital.
Additional reporting by Selim Algar