Fatal Crash Stole Lives Of Brothers Who'd Just Begun Life On Their Own

BRANFORD, CT — Like a good dad, in November 2021, Tom Dudchik reached out on a Facebook community page in search of an apartment for his son, Robert. His then 21-year-old son, "a good kid," he described, had just begun a career as a flight attendant for the new Tweed New Haven Airport airline Avelo.

"We live in East Haddam, and he's looking for a small apartment in East Haven, close to Tweed," Dudchik wrote. "At 21, and now with his first job, he's looking for the kind of rent that people get by word of mouth, an apartment over a garage, someone who has a vacant in-laws' apartment."

That share by Dudchik on The Good Things About East Haven community page on Facebook garnered hundreds of likes and dozens of comments from welcoming East Haveners.

Soon after it was learned that Robert, now 22, was one of the three people that died in a car crash in Branford last week, Avelo Airlines tweeted: "Our hearts are broken by the tragic loss of Avelo Flight Attendant Rob Dudchik in a recent car accident. Rob represented the best of us."

Robert, his brother Anthony, 19, and East Haven High School student Megan Nicole Povilaitis, 17, were killed when the car she was driving, with the brothers as passengers, crashed on Hosley Avenue Thursday. Branford police Deputy Chief John Alves said that, "Preliminary findings of the investigation indicate that the operator failed to negotiate a curve in the road while traveling at an excessive speed."

The Dudchik brothers were the sons of journalist and Capitol Report's Tom Dudchik and his wife Nora.

Anthony, who graduated in 2021 from Nathan Hale-Ray High School, was a standout track and field athlete. He had just finished his first year at Southern Connecticut State University. He was a journalism major.

And Robert had just begun a new life, living in East Haven and working as a flight attendant.

"Every child should have a forever home. Every child should be loved"

Tom Dudchik's WTNH colleague Rich Graziano shared in a Facebook post that both Robert and Anthony were former foster children, adopted by the Dudchiks.

"Unable to have children, Tom and Nora -- in their 40s -- adopted Robert and Anthony in 2007 when they were 7 and 4, through the state Department of Children and Families. They committed their lives to two beautiful children having overcome significant personal adversity, and safe homes to make a permanent home in East Haddam. They created a family."

Tom and Nora Dudchik's hope, Graziano said, and shared, is that the news of the tragic loss of their son's lives might shine on a light on adoption.

From Graziano's Facebook post: “Every child should have a forever home. Every child should be loved,’’ Tom said recently. “If this tragedy in some small way compels a person to adopt, then their lives wouldn’t be gone for nothing. That’s what I’d like people to know about their lives. They are good boys.”

Graziano noted that his goal now is to "increase awareness, education, and information around adoption."

"I will work with Tom, News 8, and the State of Connecticut to make a difference in the lives of children in need," he wrote. "We will help create new homes and new families and do whatever we can to ensure that all children are loved in this state, all in the name of Robert and Anthony Dudchik."

U.S. Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy tweeted about the tragedy, sharing information on adoption.

"Anthony and Robert left this world too soon. But their lives were changed by two heroes who opened their heart and their home to two boys who needed a home," he wrote, adding how people can learn more about fostering and adoption in Connecticut.

Robert and Anthony's stories

In a January post to his Instagram, Anthony, a budding photographer, shared images he'd captured of birds. On that post, in the last few days, friends have written about the sorrow in losing Anthony.

Like Brianne Goff: "Thank you for being my person through thick and thin since 4th grade ❤️ thank you for being my home, my safe haven my whole life. Thank you for supporting me through everything and all the choices I made. You were always the first person to text me in the morning, and the last to text me goodnight. I will miss our car rides, walks with finn and pitch, dinner with your parents and with mine, I will miss your soul present on this planet. Rest well, my person. You will be my #1 forever."

Robert too was a photographer. A year ago, in May 2021, he posted to his Instagram photography page about a "life-changing trip" he and two friends, Jessie and Jake, had taken.

In a photo and video set from Toketee Falls, Oregon, Robert wrote:

"This has been a life-changing trip, and I couldn’t have asked for two better friends to experience it all with. We’re on our long journey home, but the memories we’ve made will last a lifetime. This has been everything I’ve dreamed it would be. A wise man told Jake and I 'Follow the sun,' and I think we’ve done just that."

In his last post to his photography page, Robert shared photos from the heavens.

"I find it therapeutic to look down at the clouds I spent so long looking up at."