Northwestern DA David Sullivan said he expects to officially release the name of the driver once a positive identification has been made by the medical examiner.
Public safety officials responded to the scene of a fatal, one-car crash on Route 202 in Belchertown late Monday night. Authorities on Wednesday night tentatively identified the driver as Ashley Goetz, 26, of Amherst.BELCHERTOWN — Law enforcement officials have tentatively identified the person who died Monday night in a single car crash on Route 202 as Ashley Ellen Goetz, 26, of Amherst.
Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan said he expects to officially release the name of the driver once a positive identification has been made by the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Goetz, whose parents live in Eagan, Minn., was a graduate student in the University of Massachusetts Master of Fine Arts fiction writing program.
The crash was called in at 10:35 p.m. Monday. Police found a vehicle sitting perpendicular to the road when they arrived on the scene. The exterior of the vehicle was burned.
Mary Carey, communications director for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, said in a statement Wednesday night that due to the extensive damage to the car, it was not possible to make an immediate positive identification of the driver. Cary said Goetz had been driving the car earlier Monday evening.
Police said it appears the car was traveling south on Route 202 when it drifted across the northbound travel lane and slightly off the roadway before striking the utility pole.
The crash remains under investigation by Belchertown police, state police with the Northwestern District Attorney’s office and the state police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.