Friends came together Saturday night to remember a Cheshire teen killed in an early morning crash on Route 9.
Police say Isabella Gozzo, 19, of Cheshire, died after a car crash on Route 9 south in Berlin around 2:16 a.m. Saturday morning. That night, hundreds of people came together at the football field at Cheshire High School to remember Gozzo.
“We’ve all cried a lot and we’ve all grieved. But it’s really hard to put into perspective that I won’t get to see her anymore,” says Samantha Welch, a friend of Gozzo.
Another friend, Alex Volpert, says he had seen Gozzo on Friday night when she stopped by his birthday party.
“She came up to me and gave me the biggest hug for my birthday. And I’m just happy I got to spend my night with one of the greatest people ever,” says Volpert.
At the vigil, friends shared stories and also launched balloons decorated with daisies.
“She’s a flower child and she deserved every single one of those balloons. She’s going to catch them all and hang them up in a really big closet she has up in heaven,” says Welch.
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Gozzo was a passenger in a car driven by Anthony Longo, 22, of Berlin, according to state police. Friends of Gozzo say she and Longo were dating.
Police say Longo lost control of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and veered off onto the right shoulder of the highway.
After hitting a light pole and a rock wall, the car rolled over several times and landed on the highway median at the exit 21 on ramp to Route 9, police said.
Police say Gozzo, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the car. Longo was wearing a seatbelt.
Both were taken to Hartford Hospital where Gozzo was later pronounced dead.
Police say the crash remains under investigation and no cause has been determined. No charges have been filed at this time.
