Family members continue to grieve the loss of a mother and father who were killed in a fiery collision on June 30, along Highway 28. Last week, RCMP charged a 27-year-old Calgary woman with impaired driving in connection to the crash.
Police issued an arrest warrant for Fallon Jessica Ouellette on Sept. 24 and arrested her on Sept. 26, after an investigation into the June crash, in which 49-year-old Dave Fragoso and his 52-year-old common-law wife, Charlotte Patterson, both died. Bystanders pulled Fragoso’s 12-year-old daughter from the minivan as it became engulfed in flames.
“We knew charges were coming, we just didn’t know what they were,” said Barb Scully, whose daughter survived the crash. And although her physical wounds may be slowly healing, Scully says her daughter needs to heal emotionally as well.
“She heard and saw everything,” says Scully. Following the accident, her daughter was hospitalized for five days with serious burns to her body. Treatment is ongoing and the now 13-year-old continues to attend regular medical appointments.
“It was senseless,” says Scully, when speaking of the collision. “There was no point to this.”
Patterson lived in Edmonton, but was originally from Glendon, and many of her family members still reside in the area.
Amanda Patterson, her daughter, says she continues to grieve for her mother and stepfather, but would always remember the pair’s bright personalities. “I will remember my mom and step-dad as the happy, hardworking people they were, always smiling and joking, trying to make everyone else just as happy as they were.”
“The loss of both of them is heart-wrenching on my whole family. Their grandchildren will never get to really know them and that breaks my heart every day.”
Last week, Scully was busy posting the information from the arrest warrant all over social media. On Friday evening, RCMP released an updated media notice, stating Ouellette was arrested and remained in police custody.
Ouellette has been charged with nine counts, including: impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death and bodily harm; impaired operation of a motor vehicle over 0.80 causing death and bodily harm; and dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm.
In the release, St. Paul RCMP thanked the public for their assistance with this investigation.
