A 61-year-old woman from Mount Desert was killed Friday when the car she was riding in went off the Maine Turnpike, rolled over and hit a tree.

Lynne Richardson was initially responsive at the scene of the crash at Mile 13 southbound in Wells, said Maine State Police Sgt. James Urquhart. He said she was then pronounced dead at the scene by the medical crew of a LifeFlight helicopter that landed on the turnpike to take her to a hospital.

Urquhart said the car in which Richardson was a passenger was driven by her husband, John Drolette, 59.

Urquhart said Drolette’s car hit a Honda Pilot that was in front of him on the highway about 1:30 Friday. Urquhart said the reason for that collision is still under investigation, but the impact was minimal. However, Drolette’s Subaru Forester went off the road, rolled down an embankment, flipped over and then hit a tree on the passenger side, fatally injuring Richardson.

State police shut down both sides of the turnpike to bring in the helicopter, he said. Traffic was backed up in both directions for about four or five miles, he said, and there was an other collision in the northbound lane almost directly across from the site of the first crash. Urquhart said no one was injured in that collision.

Traffic was backed up for most of the afternoon, Urquhart said, but cleared up by about the time of the evening rush hour.