Milford woman killed in city crash

NASHUA – Sherri Edwards received her last text message from Michelle Boehm on Wednesday, and, typical of the woman she called her best friend, it said, “I love you and I miss you.”

Not many hours later Boehm, a 48-year-old Milford resident, died on Amherst Street in Nashua. She had been heading west on Route 101A shortly before 11 p.m. when her Mitsubishi Eclipse hit a tractor-trailer truck, which was stopped in the left turn lane on Amherst Street, waiting to turn onto Celina Avenue, according to Nashua police Lt. John Fisher.

Boehm’s car then hit a westbound Nissan Altima, operated by Frank Morales, 21, of Nashua.

Nashua Fire and Rescue Dep. Chief John Allison said Boehm’s Mitsubishi went

underneath the rear of the tractor-trailer and then careened into the Nissan. He said neither the truck driver, Stanley Balcewicz, 57, of Worcester, Mass., nor Morales were injured in the crash.

Firefighters did need to use power extraction tools to rescue Boehm from her car, Allison said.

“The damage was extensive,” he said.

The road was closed for the hour firefighters were on the scene and remained closed while the Nashua Police Department’s accident reconstruction team analyzed the crash, Allison said. Police are still investigating, and have yet to determine what caused the crash.

Edwards and Boehm first met at Wilton-Lyndeborough High School when Edwards was a sophomore and Boehm a junior. “She was one of those friends who, when you are down in the dumps, just her smile was enough to make you feel good,” said Edwards. “She had an infectious smile, a bubbly personality.”

Edwards said her friend loved to dance, loved to laugh and lived for her two children, John and Brittany.

“Her children were her world,” she said.

Boehm loved to go with her daughter to yoga and aerobics at Golds Gym and to Pasta Loft to listen to her son sing on open mike night.

“She had so many people who absolutely adored her. She never had a bad word to say about anyone,” Edwards said.

Robin Ann Peters, of Nashua, a host on WSMN 1590 radio, came upon the crash at about 11 p.m., when rescuers were already at the scene, she said. The westbound lanes were completely closed, and firefighters were working on both vehicles. Firefighters at some point moved away from Boehm’s car, and covered it with a tarp, she said. Boehm’s adult son arrived at the scene of the crash soon afterward, she said.

There were no skid marks to suggest that Boehm had hit her brakes before crashing into the truck, and her Eclipse was badly damaged, with the front end “completely mangled,” Peters said. There was a “surprising” amount of damage to the back of the truck, she said.

Several drivers who had witnessed the crash stopped at the scene to speak with police, Peters said. At least one witness remarked that Boehm seemed to have been driving erratically before the crash, she said.

Boehm was recently divorced, Edwards said, and worked in Massachusetts for a company called Assuretec Systems. Boehm and her ex-husband had joint custody of their 18-year-old daughter, court records show.

Her obituary described her as a loving mother.

Staff writer Joseph G. Cote contributed to this story. Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 21, or kcleveland@cabinet.com. Andrew Wolfe can be reached at 594-6410 or awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com.