The three young women who died in a horrific late-night crash in New Jersey were together for a high school reunion meant to unite two of them on the outs, one of the victims’ mothers told The Post.
Michaela Powell’s mom, Linda, said Sunday her 23-year-old daughter organized the reunion to help mend fences between pals Brianna Martinez, 23, and Uchechukwu “Uche” Chukwuma, 24, before the trio were killed in the collision.
“Brianna and Uche were on the outs and she wanted to get them together,” the grieving mom told The Post.
The fatal outing also was supposed to be a final get-together for the tight group of Franklin High School alums before one of their pals was deployed next month, she said.
“This was a reunion, mostly people from high school. Michaela helped put this together,” Linda Powell said, adding that her daughter was “always getting people together.”
Michaela was a passenger in Martinez’s Nissan Altima when the car struck the tractor-trailer on Route 1 near Ford Avenue as the truck was pulling away from a stoplight at around 11:50 p.m, according to Woodbridge Police.
She and Chukwuma were pronounced dead at the scene, while Martinez was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she died of her injuries, officials said.
Videos on social media showed the group of young women drinking, dancing and toasting each other before the deadly collision.
Michaela’s grief-stricken mother said Sunday she’d been unable since the accident to face the room of her daughter, whom she’d adopted as an infant.
“I’ve been up for the last 24 hours. It’s been hard,” the mom told The Post.
Linda said Michaela was an aspiring school counselor and had been living at home since graduating from Montclair State University with a psychology degree.
“She was really good at reading people. She would have made a really great counselor,” she said.
The 23-year-old had a “special love of animals” and left behind her beloved Golden retriever, Molly, who the family adopted from Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue in Pennsylvania.
“Last night every time a car came down the street Molly would get excited and look at me, as if she was asking, ‘Is that her?

life drama

Chaiii

Painful for their parents.