Eliot teen dies in I-95 car crash in Kennebunk

ELIOT, Maine — State police are investigating the cause of a car accident that killed a recent Marshwood High School graduate and injured another teenage Eliot resident on Interstate 95 late Friday night.

Maine State Police Trooper Duane Doughty said police and emergency responders were called at 10:07 p.m. Friday to the accident near mile marker 24 in Kennebunk on the southbound side of the interstate. It was determined, that for reasons still under investigation, the 2007 Chevrolet Aveo veered off the road, went into a ditch and struck a cement culvert, totaling the vehicle and resulting in the ejection of a passenger from the car.

Anthony Blangiardi, 18, of Eliot, was ejected from the vehicle and was rushed to Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford, where he was later pronounced dead. The driver, 18-year-old Jonathan Veino, also of Eliot, was treated and released from the same hospital.

Doughty said a number of interviews were conducted and a reconstruction of the accident scene was completed, but no further information on the investigation was yet available.

Veino was wearing a seat belt and it appeared that Blangiardi was not, but the trooper noted the seat he was in was also ejected from the vehicle as a result of the impact.

"It's a very active investigation," Doughty said, who noted that no other vehicles were involved.

Marshwood High School Principal Paul Mehlhorn recalled Blangiardi, who graduated from high school earlier this year, as a happy youth who was active in football, lacrosse and hockey during his time at the school.

He said the Marshwood community was dealing with a terrible loss.

"It's just really unfortunate. It breaks all of our hearts," he said. "Anthony was a real good young man, always happy, always with a smile on his face."

Mehlhorn said the school's crisis team would be getting together today and that grief counselors would be made available to students who needed them.

"We're going to be as supportive as we can for the family and students," Mehlhorn said.

It is the second loss of a young former student for the Marshwood community this year.

In April, 19-year-old Matthew Rix Jr., of South Berwick, died in Dover, and the popular former wrestler was mourned by hundreds at the high school in a memorial service.