By Jordan J. Phelan
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CHARLESTOWN — A Claremont woman is dead and another woman is hospitalized with serious injuries following a two-vehicle crash Friday night in Charlestown, according to local police.
Charlestown police said they received a call around 4:40 p.m. of a head-on collision on Claremont Road, otherwise known as Route 12, near Shutters Way in Charlestown.
Investigators said that a 2020 Toyota Rav 4 driven by Charity Dyer, 51, of Claremont, was traveling south on Route 12 when she crossed the centerline for an unknown reason. The Toyota Rav 4 then collided with a 2012 Honda CRV operating in the northbound lane driven by a 63-year-old Claremont resident.
The driver of the Honda CRV — who was not named in the Saturday news release — was taken to Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont and then transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon with serious injuries.
Dyer, who worked as a head chef at Taverne on the Square in Claremont, was pronounced dead at the scene. No others were in either vehicle at the time of the crash.
Route 12 was closed around the collision for approximately four hours as crews worked to clean up and law enforcement conducted the accident investigation, according to the news release.
Further investigation found a “significant amount of illegal narcotics were located in Dyer’s car and in her possession.” Results of a toxicology report for Dyer remain pending.
Assisting the Charlestown Police and Charlestown Fire Department at the scene was the New Hampshire State Police, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, and Golden Cross Ambulance.
Claremont resident and Dyer’s son, Jacob Emery, has set up a GoFundMe account for funeral expenses.
“She had been having a lot of medical issues going on,” Emery said. “As many people know, my mom has the biggest heart and was a loving and caring person.”
Taverne on the Square, where Dyer worked for nearly three years, mourned the sudden loss of their beloved chef on social media.
The cause of the crash is still being investigated. Anyone with further information is asked to call Lieutenant Jonathan Graham or the Charlestown Police Department at 603-826-5747.
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