Freehold Woman ID'd As Victim In Horrific Route 9 Crash

By TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

OLD BRIDGE, NJ -- A Freehold woman was one of three people who died Tuesday in a fatal crash on Route 9, police said Wednesday.

Hope T. Wells, 37, of Freehold, was killed when her Honda Accord, which was northbound on Route 9, was hit by a blue Ford Escape driven by William Fairchild Jr., 45, of Howell, Old Bridge police said.

The crash, which also killed Fairchild and Charles H. Kleiman, 62, of San Rafael, Calif., occurred about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when Fairchild's car crossed over the median and into the northbound lanes near Route 516, police said.

Kleiman was a passenger in Wells' car, police said, along with an 86-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman. The two women were seriously injured and taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, police said.

Video footage from the scene captured by Eyewitness News shows two crumpled cars and skid marks on the roadway, circled by police in red chalk. A Manalapan woman driving by took photos of the crash scene.

The accident is under investigation, police said.

Route 9 north through Old Bridge Township was closed for hours due to the crash.