-- A couple walked onto the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks and embraced just moments before they were fatally struck by an Amtrak train, authorities said. The couple, described only as a 27-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, were killed around 4:15 p.m. Monday. They apparently left their wallets on the southbound, lower-level platform of the North Elizabeth station and crossed a set of southbound tracks before stopping on the first of two northbound tracks, investigators said. "They were holding hands and they walked into the path of the train," Amtrak spokeswoman Karen Dunn said. "(The engineer) didn't have much time to react." Amtrak police, who are handling the investigation, did not release the victims' names pending notification of relatives. The Star-Ledger of Newark, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, reported that the couple stood directly under a narrow overpass that sheltered them momentarily from a driving rain, then put their arms around each other as the northbound train barreled down on them. Dunn said the Keystone Line train had left Harrisburg, Pa., and was headed to New York's Penn Station with about 50 passengers aboard. The train remained at the site for about three hours before it was allowed to continue its trip. The accident caused scattered delays for NJ Transit commuters on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines. The transit agency routed selected trains to bypass the Elizabeth Broad Street and North Elizabeth stations.
FROM TODAY'S NEW YORK TIMES: Suicide Pact Seen in NJ Train Deaths May 14, 2002 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 2:23 p.m. ET ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) -- Addicted to drugs and thrown out of their apartment, a young couple walked hand-in-hand onto the railroad tracks in an apparent suicide pact and embraced moments before an Amtrak train struck and killed them. Damien J. Conners, 26, and Theresa E. LaMarca, 22, believed there was no other way out, the woman's relatives said Tuesday. They said the couple were heavily addicted to drugs, including painkillers and possibly heroin. Police said it was clear from witness accounts that the couple deliberately stepped in front of the train and waited for it to him them Monday afternoon. They had left their wallets on the station platform. ``They were holding hands and they walked into the path of the train,'' Amtrak spokeswoman Karen Dunn said. The engineer ``didn't have much time to react.'' Conners' family declined to speak to reporters. But LaMarca's family said the couple had been evicted two weeks ago from their apartment because they could not pay the rent. ``They got on the tracks and felt that was the only way out, that they had reached the end of the rope,'' said Barbara LaMarca, the woman's mother. The woman's mother said the two left no suicide note. John LaMarca, the woman's father, said police told him the couple did $200 to $300 a day worth of drugs. He said the couple broke into his house April 29 and stole nine checks, the father said. He said he did not know the checks were missing until Thursday when he learned five had been cashed for a total of $5,000. He put a hold on the remaining four. Theresa LaMarca received a $58,000 settlement from auto accident in which she suffered serious injuries. The couple quickly burned through that money, the father said. LaMarca had studied computer science and Conners recently worked as a butcher, LaMarca's relatives said. The couple met less than a year ago. Barbara LaMarca said she last saw her daughter at Christmastime. She said her daughter would not return her calls or letters. ``I would send her cards and let her know we were here and that we loved her,'' she said. ``We would have given her another rope to help her, to bring her back.'' http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Train-Deaths.html?ex=1022401382&ei=1&en=ac5e4ab3cb4c8d31
