4 dead after three accidents in the Triangle early Sunday, police say
Three fatal crashes — two in Raleigh and one in Durham — early Sunday morning left four people dead, according to police.
The first happened shortly before 2 a.m. on Interstate 85 South near the U.S. 15-501 interchange, Durham police said.
A 2008 Nissan Pathfinder driven by Claudia Azucena Campos Lopez, 39, of Hillsborough, went off the right side of the roadway and struck an unoccupied 2013 Kia Optima parked on the shoulder. Lopez died at the scene, police said.
“Speed appears to be a factor in this crash,” Durham police said in a news release.
Two hours after that accident, Raleigh police responded to two unrelated fatal crashes.
Raleigh police confirmed that a head-on collision on Interstate 40 near the Gorman Street exit killed two people, and was caused by a wrong-way driver. The crash shut down that section of the expressway for four hours.
Jonathan Perry, 27, was driving a 2006 Lexus IS250 west in the eastbound lanes of I-40, Raleigh police said, when his vehicle collided with a 2024 Volkswagen Taos being driven by Alaina Mathews, 37.
Both drivers died at the scene, police said. Crash scene evidence suggested Mathews attempted to swerve to avoid impact.
The preliminary investigation indicates Perry had turned onto I-40 from Gorman Street, police said.
“Mr. Perry had the odor of alcohol coming from his person and an open container was located at his feet inside of the car,” a Raleigh police news release said.
The second accident on Gorman Street near Kaplan Drive killed one person, Raleigh police said.
Pierre-Louis de Mourgues (23) was traveling southwest on Gorman Street between Kaplan Drive and Brent Road on an e-scooter, police said.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that a vehicle traveling southwest on Gorman Street struck Mr. Mourgues from behind and drug him down the road,” Raleigh police said in the news release. “The vehicle then fled the scene. Mr. Mourgues died at the scene.”
Anyone with information about the Durham accident is asked to contact Investigator A. Roberts at (919) 560-4935 ext. 29410.
This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 12:34 PM.