Concerned Nazareth mother finds daughter's car after fatal accident in Plainfield Township

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

When Shawnalai Werkheiser didn't come home after running errands Sunday afternoon, her mother went out looking for her.

Christine Werkheiser said she found her daughter's car on Route 33.

"The cops were all there," Christine Werkheiser said. "I knew when they wouldn't answer me."

What Christine Werkheiser thought she knew was that her 22-year-old daughter was dead.

Pennsylvania State Police at Belfast said Shawnalai Werkheiser, of the 100 block of Wood Street in Nazareth, died following a one-car accident on Route 33 in Plainfield Township.

Werkheiser was heading north about 12:15 p.m. on Route 33 when she lost control of her 2000 Honda Civic, police said. Her car left the road and struck a sign and a tree, police said.

Two passersby, one of whom was a nurse, pulled Werkheiser from her car and tried to resuscitate her, police said.

Witnesses told police that Werkheiser was speeding and weaving between lanes just prior to crashing her car, police said

Christine Werkheiser said her daughter was heading to Kmart to make a layaway payment for her 8-month-old daughter's Christmas present.

"Everything she did was mostly for Taiah," Christine Werkheiser said of her daughter's baby girl, Taiah Lynn Godshall.

Christine Werkheiser said her daughter spent time scrapbooking, mostly of photos of her little girl. Shawnalai Werkheiser, a 2007 graduate of Nazareth Area High School, also liked to spend time talking with her friends.

Christine Werkheiser, who was gathered with family at her Nazareth home, sobbed briefly as she spoke of her daughter.

"You're supposed to go before your kids," she said. "She was my best friend, and I am going to miss her a lot."

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2011/11/concern_nazareth_mother_finds.html