People twice have stolen or torn apart flowers and a pink cross left at a roadside memorial site for a 17-year-old girl killed last month in a head-on collision, her mother said today.
“This hurts deeply,” said Michelle Stricklen-Long, mother of Samara Stricklen. “I do not want anyone to forget her. She does not deserve this, and neither do my family, to be re-victimized by someone’s senseless act tearing the (memorial) site.”
Stricklen was killed March 13 when a car driven by a 16-year-old Green Mountain High School student collided into a car she was riding in. The accident severely injured 20-year-old Seth Mutschler, the driver of the car carrying Stricklen.
The memorial site at Florida and Alameda avenues in Lakewood was destroyed on April 1 and then again Friday night, Stricklen-Long said Saturday.
The 16-year-old driver, who police say had been drinking at the time of the crash, was taken into custody but has not been charged. She is now free on a $10,000 bond.
A grand jury was convened earlier this month to investigate the crash.
