MILTON, N.H. — The mother of a 19-year-old woman who died in a car crash in Candia says she was addicted to heroin and was found with a needle in her arm.

Police said Jessica McCassie of Fremont was driving alone east on Route 101 on Sunday when her car struck a guardrail, crossed over two lanes of traffic and rolled over. She was ejected and died of her injuries.

Her mother, Joyce McCassie of Milton, tells Foster’s Daily Democrat she had a phone conversation with Jessica about six hours before she died. She asked her daughter if she had heroin on her, and was told no.

Jessica’s family said she had a history of overdoses and spent time in rehab.

She was a promising student who was second in her class when she graduated from Nute High School in Milton last year. She enrolled last fall at the New Hampshire Technical Institute to study dental hygiene, but dropped out after a semester.

“She had gotten involved with heroin her senior year, and we could see how it was changing her,” said her aunt, Audrey Musso of Wakefield. “Her disposition started to change, and she wanted to sleep a lot.”

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Joyce McCassie said a month before the fatal accident, she pulled Jessica aside.

“I told her I didn’t want to lose her, that she had no more overdoses left in her,” she said.

Musso encourages people to reach out, get help “and get nosy” for a loved one with a heroin addiction.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled to be held at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Milton town beach.

 


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