Woman, 89, killed in crash
A Manassas woman was killed Wednesday morning in a two-car crash in the Gainesville area. Virginia State Police said 89-year-old Cecilia Eck was driving west in the center lane of Interstate 66 near the exit for Route 234 when she moved into the HOV lane and her Chevrolet Lumina was struck by a Ford Ranger. Police said Eck appears to have been trying to turn into the emergency strip in the median. The driver of the Ford Ranger, a male teenager, could not stop in time, authorities said. Eck was pronounced dead at the scene. The Ranger driver and a passenger, a female teenager, were hospitalized with minor injuries, police said. Police said no charges will be filed.
Md. woman accused of setting own home on fire
A Mount Airy woman is accused of torching her own house, then barricading herself inside her attic and calling 911 to report the blaze. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said 47-year-old Patricia Cullop set the fire in the kitchen of her home on Old Bartholows Road on Nov. 19. Cullop was taken into custody Tuesday and is charged with first-degree arson and malicious burning.
4 teens charged in arsons
Four teenagers have been arrested in connection with a series of intentionally set fires. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said the four 16-year-old boys have been charged with setting two Dec. 26 garage fires near Singleton Terrace and Addison Woods Road in Urbana. The teens were apprehended after investigators reviewed surveillance footage from a nearby Walmart and saw that a large number of marine flares — which were used to set the blazes — had been shoplifted a few hours before the fires, authorities said. The teens confessed to setting two garage fires and a Dec. 23 porch blaze, authorities said.
– Emily Babay
