Train Derailment Victims Had One Week Before Returning to College
Learn more about the two 19-year-old friends killed in train derailed in Ellicott City early Tuesday morning.
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Elizabeth Nass and Rose Mayr, the two 19-year-old women killed in an early Tuesday morning train derailment in Ellicott City, were longtime friends from Ellicott City who graduated together from Mount Hebron High School in 2010.
Mayr was studying at University of Delaware and lived in Newark, DE. Nass was a student at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.
Don Egle, a spokesman for JMU, said that Nass would have been a junior majoring in interdisciplinary liberal studies when classes started next week. She was an honors student and in the university's honors program and was also in a sorority.
While Egle said he couldn't speak to what Nass would do if she had graduated, most people who obtain the degree she was seeking become teachers.
"It was just a tragic accident," Egle said. "The JMU community just feels a real sense of loss."
Egle said the university's thoughts were with the friends and family of Nass.
Dawn Thompson, the dean of students at the University if Delaware, echoed Egle.
“We are very saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of one of our community members," Thompson said in an email. "The University of Delaware community extends its condolences to Ms. Mayr's family and friends."
Mayr, who was majoring in nursing, also would have returned to Delaware's campus to start her junior year in less than a week.
The two girls posted to Twitter Monday night shortly before the train derailment from the railroad tracks.
“Levitating,” wrote a Twitter user named Rose Mayr at 10:51 p.m. under the name @r0se_petals, accompanied by a picture of two pairs of women’s feet dangling over the street in Ellicott City.
A Twitter user named Elizabeth Nass (@LizNassty) tweeted at 10:40 p.m. that she was “drinking on top of the Ellicott City sign,” which sits under the train tracks that cross above Main Street, with @r0se_petals.
According to their Twitter accounts, the girls spent a lot of time together over the summer, tweeting regularly about what they were doing.
Mayr shared photos from a trip to Dolly Sods, WV, and both said they were in New York City for short trips.
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Arbutus Town Crier
5:16 pm on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
My condolences to the Family, and friends No one should be taken before there time My prayers, I hope to strengthen the Loved one to through these hard times
Jonathan Moynihan
11:30 pm on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
My family and I grew up playing and hanging out at the Mayr house with Rose and her sister just down the street. She was a wonderful, smart girl with a bright future ahead of her. She will be dearly missed by myself, my family and all those who knew her.
Joe
10:11 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
This accident is so bizarre it has made news worldwide.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/12802059/__Doden_bij_treinongeluk_VS__.html
Patricia
10:11 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
My sympathy goes to the family and friends of both girls, I am so sorry to hear about your loss.
Patricia
10:11 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
My heart goes out to both families, I am sorry to hear about your loss.
Spring Heeled Jack
10:11 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
This is really sad. I just keep thinking how terribly unfortunate those girls were to be in that very spot at that very time. Plenty of people venture up to that spot all the time and nothing ever went wrong. What are the odds a train would derail at that very moment? So bizarre and sad!
Leslie Schildgen
11:29 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
My God. . . prayers to the families.
Zoobie
4:18 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
That Train Line Has Seen It's Share Of Derailments. If Some Good Can Come Out Of This Unfortunate Accident, Perhaps Folks Will Think Twice Before Visiting These Dangerous Places. My Prayers Go Out To The Families.
richard bertoldi
4:23 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
yes it is tragic and my heart goes out to the family but.....i thought there were reasons why you arn't supposed to hang out by the rr tracks . its dangerous there not to mention illegal
Lori Chrest
9:36 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Why kick dirt when a life is lost?
M Howard County
6:39 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
It's not "kicking dirt" to point this out. For those who say "kids will be kids," there needs to be a voice that says "these kids would be alive if they weren't where they didn't belong." Very sad, but true.
Lori Chrest
9:36 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
My hope is that all kids will take serious how dangerous it is to be on train tracks. My grandson, who is three, lives near train tracks. I hope when he gets older I will be able to show him the clippings from this tragedy. My hearts goes out to both families and I am saddened at their loss. Why can't the state place barriers around to prevent this terrible loss of life. May God bring strength to the families to deal with their sadness and help them to know how many people feel their pain.
zep
9:41 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Who gave them alcohol? They were NINETEEN.
Who told them to go to a dangerous place and treat it as if it were their livingroom?
Where is the common sense? Were they ever told; "People can easily get killed here"?
This is the result of a society that trusts everything that the kids do is really alright, and slaps helmets and shin guards on them without ANY real life instruction or warning. If it wasn't this, what would it have been? My heart goes out the most to the railroad employees who will be haunted for the rest of their lives by something completely out of their control.
Did these girls have to die? Who is responsible? You all need to ask yourselves this. What can you do to keep YOUR kid from doing this? Do you teach them to pay attention, or do you put them on meds and give them cellphones? Think about it.
Gina
10:10 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Zep do you have kids & were you ever a teenager??????????? Teenagers do stupid things everyday. The fact that one posted a message on twitter saying they were drinking doesn't mean they were drunk and there isn't even any proof other they a twitter post that they were drinking. People of all ages are on that bridge all the time, what happened to those girls was a freak accident and simply that. It could have happened to anyone at any given second of the day. These girls did absolutely nothing to contribute to this accident, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. People can easily be killed anywhere, your more likely to get into a fatal car accident then a train accident, does that mean to never get into a car again???? No matter how hard you drill safety into your kids they are going to make their own decisions, these girls made a bad choice and unfortunately they paid a big price for it. But as a parent all you can hope is that you have taught them good, you can't wrap your kids in bubble wrap and keep them safe forever.
S. A. F.
12:40 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
No one is to blame but the kids themselves. They knew what they were doing and what the consequences could be.
JAM
8:26 pm on Monday, September 10, 2012
They knew a container of coal would smother them to death? Kids do stupid things but they don't deserve to die for it. That Penn State Sandusky dude raped little children and he's not even getting what these girls got. What kind of justice is this?