Police Release Names Of Two Killed In I-495 Crash

ANDOVER, MA -- Massachusetts State Police released the identities of the victims in Wednesday's fatal, head-on crash on Interstate 495 in Lawrence that killed two and injured three. Jyllian McGonagle, 38, of Lawrence, was driving on the southbound side of the highway when she suddenly swerved across the media and into oncoming traffic on the northbodund side. Her 2016 Kia Sportage crashed head-0n into a Honda Pilot. McGonagle and Nelson Rivera, 56, of Lawrence, a passenger in the pilot, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of Pilot remains in critical condition at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The 55-year-old Lawrence woman, whose name has not been released, had both lungs collapsed and both femurs, both ankles and most of her ribs broken in the crash, according to a friend of the woman and Rivera.

Massachusetts State Police had initially said Riverra was a passenger in the 2016 Kia Sportage driven by McGonagle. Two other women in a 2016 Toyota RAV4 that was hit after the Kia crashed into the Pilot were also taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police are still trying to determine why McGonagle swerved from the southbound side of the highway at the Lawrence-Andover town line, across the median and into oncoming traffic on the northbound side just before noon on Wednesday.

A third driver, a 59-year-old Dracut man, was uninjured after the Kia sideswiped his 2004 Ford F350 before crashing into the Pilot. The highway was closed for nearly three hours Wednesday following the accident.

Related story: Two Dead After Head-On Crash On Interstate 495

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Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).