One Benedictine Sister Killed, Two in Stable Condition after Collision with Drunk Driver

According to police, the driver hit a guard rail and collided with the vehicle carrying the sisters head-on.

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RESTON, VA (Catholic Online) - Two Benedictine sisters remain in critical but stable condition at Fairfax Inova Hospital after a head-on crash Sunday around 8:30am on Bristow Road in Prince William County. A third sister died in the accident.

Sister Charlotte Lange and Sister Connie Ruth Lupton were both flown to the hospital after the crash. Sister Denise Mosier, 66, who was reportedly asleep in the back seat of the car, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident occurred as the three sisters were traveling from Richmond, where they teach at St. Gertrude High School to the Benedictine Monastery in Bristow.

Sister Andrea Verchuck, a subprioress at the monastery told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the nuns were making their way to the monastery's annual five-day retreat, which began on Monday, when they were hit.

"Everyone's in a state of shock," she said on Sunday night, adding that the community has responded with an outpouring of love and support.

According to police officials, an alleged drunken driver, Carlos A. Martinelly Montano, 23, was driving a Subaru Outback when it hit a guardrail on the road then swerved into the sisters' car, hitting it head-on.

Montano, who was hospitalized with minor injuries will be transferred to Prince William-Manassas regional jail when he is discharged. He has been charged with his third DUI count in five years, involuntary manslaughter and driving on a license revoked for DUI-related reasons.

Reports from the St. Gertrude school website indicated that doctors were still trying to stop the internal bleeding in Sister Charlotte who also had some intestine removed. Sister Connie had fractured her leg, ankle and wrist as well as having a part of one of her thumb amputated. She also had injured some of her organs and was experiencing some internal bleeding.

All three nuns were associated with Linton Hall School in Bristow, which is operated by the Benedictine Sisters Monastery, and also associated with St. Gertrude's in Richmond. Sister Charlotte was the principal at St. Gertrudes', a Catholic college preparatory high school for girls, from 1985 until her retirement in 2005.

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