1 killed, 3 injured in Telegraph Road crash

A Woodbridge woman died Saturday from injuries suffered in a one-car crash on Telegraph Road just south of the Beulah Street intersection.

Police say Lauren Roucka, 27, died after being taken to a local hospital. She was driving a 2000 Dodge Neon that lost control on northbound Telegraph Road and struck a tree in the median around 5:50 p.m., police said. Three adult passengers in the vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were treated at a local hospital, according to the police.

Police said they are still determining if speed or alcohol was a factor in the crash.

On Sunday morning skid marks were visible on northbound Telegraph Road leading up to a damaged tree. Markings left by the police’s crash reconstruction investigators appear to indicate that the car lost control after going around a curve on Telegraph Road a little south of Beulah Street (see map). The marks indicate that the car jumped the median, hit a speed limit sign, and then went back into the roadway for a short distance before driving over the median and striking the tree.

Telegraph Road was closed in both directions for a time following the crash to allow detectives to investigate. Police are still looking for witnesses to the crash, and say citizens can call the FCPD’s Crash Reconstruction Unit at 703-280-0543. Tips can also be left anonymously on the Crime Solvers website here, by phone at 1-866-411-8477), or by texting “FCCS” plus the tip to 847411.

Saturday’s crash was the second fatal wreck in less than two weeks in the greater Route 1 area. A 20-year-old man from the Mount Vernon man was killed early in the morning on September 13 after his vehicle hit a tree along the George Washington Parkway near Stratford Lane. The Park Police, who are investigating the crash, have yet to give an update on the circumstances of the crash and did not return an email Friday seeking more information.

Trouble on Telegraph

Saturday’s crash was the fifth fatal wreck on Telegraph Road –which runs for a little more than nine miles between Duke Street in Alexandria and Route 1 in Lorton — in the past years. It was also the third fatal wreck within a mile stretch of Telegraph south of Beulah Street.

In February a man driving a truck southbound near the intersection of Mt. Air Drive (see map) lost control and hit a wall. And in 2017 on the same block as Saturday’s crash, a motorcyclist died in a wreck after going over a curb and hitting a retaining wall.

There have been two other fatal crashes on Telegraph Road since 2015, one farther north of Saturday’s crash and one farther south. In 2018, a man died in a single-car crash while traveling southbound near Split Rock Road (see map), and in 2015 a man died after losing control, crossing the median and hitting two other vehicles near Lockport Place in Lorton (see map).

Speed and alcohol were found to be factors in three of the four fatal Telegraph Road crashes prior to Saturday’s, according to state records. In the 2015 crash, only speed was considered a factor.

This story has been updated to include information about February’s fatal crash and other fatal crashes in the past five years (H/T Sean Arnold).