Update: Family Recalls 'Courageous' Wallingford Woman Who Died Helping Others on I-91

A good Samaritan fell to her death while helping motorists involved in a crash on I-91 Thursday.

The incident happened around 12:30 a.m., according to the Hartford Courant. Lauren Mohr, 34, stopped to assist motorists who were involved in an accident near exit 7 of I-91 north.

She fell off a concrete wall and bridge and was declared dead at the hospital.

Elvin Ayala, 33, of Branford had hit a car driven by Elizabeth Kranz of Brooklyn, New York. Ayala allegedly fled the scene, according to NBC Connecticut. She was charged with evading responsibility among other charges.

Mohr was from Wallingford and was a former student at Quinnipiac University. She also recently received her associate’s degree in social work form Middlesex Community College and was planning on studying social work at Southern Connecticut State University in the fall, according to a statement from Quinnipiac University spokesman John Morgan.

She also served in the United States Air Force for four years and trained as a medical technician.

Mohr served as a temporary aide in the undergraduate admissions office at Qunnipiac University.

“Lauren was courageous and optimistic, and had faced a lot of challenges in her life, which made her a caring and wise person. Friends and family would seek her advice and she will be remembered as our hero,” said her father Lawrence Mohr and stepmother Joan Mohr in a statement released by the university.

Mohr is the vice president of admissions and financial aid at Quinnipiac. She said her stepdaughter had just finished a waitress shift at Barcelona restaurant in New Haven and was driving home on I-91 when she saw a hit-and-run accident. She pulled over to help the victims and called 911.

It’s unclear why she stepped backward on the bridge, but there is some speculation that another car may have been driving close to the edge and Mohr had stepped back and slipped on snow and ice.

Mohr was an organ donor. Funeral arrangements have not been finalized

In addition to her father and step-mother, Lauren leaves behind her sister, Arwen, and her family (husband Nate, nephew Cole and niece Eowyn, ages 4 and 1 1/2) in Martinez, CA, her mother, Diana, in MD, and her beloved cat, ‘Bucky.’

The incident remains under investigation.

Read the full Courant article here.

Read the full WFSB article here.

Read the full NBC report here.

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