Double tragedy shakes Henrico family

RICHMOND, Va. -- A family once full of life, now stung by two deaths a week apart, is grappling for answers.

"It has been like a stab in my heart," said Cathy Bellio, whose mother and daughter died within days of each other on a stretch of a Henrico County road as twisted as the fate that has befallen the family.

As they prepare for a cremation service tomorrow for 25-year-old Danielle Bellio, killed Nov. 21 when her car slammed into a tree on Springfield Road, the Bellios also are having to plan funeral arrangements for 74-year-old Ruth Bellio, who was killed Saturday afternoon as she prepared to leave a bouquet of flowers where her granddaughter was killed.

"My mother was a second mother to Danielle," Cathy Bellio said.

Huddled in a cramped Henrico apartment yesterday off Parham Road that was home to Danielle and her older brother, Cathy Bellio said her now-widowed father, 79, was unaware that his wife had died until he was at VCU Medical Center on Saturday, being treated for injuries suffered when he was struck by the same vehicle that killed his wife.

"He didn't want to park on that curve, but my mother insisted, and when she got out of the truck, she fell down an embankment into a small ravine. Dad went around to help her up. They picked up the flowers and walked over to the road, and that's when they got hit," Bellio said.

Henrico police are investigating the Saturday accident.

The site of numerous crashes over the years, the S-curves on Springfield Road near Jones Road have been on Virginia Department of Transportation improvement lists for years, said activist Ron Melancon, a nearby resident.

A new school being planned east of the crash site is bound to create more traffic on Springfield Road, increasing the danger there, Melancon said. He added that teen drivers who are easily distracted could have difficulty negotiating the parts of the road that are curved and have only two lanes.

"I wouldn't call it a deadly roadway," said Lt. Mark Banks, a Henrico police officer who has patrolled the area for much of his 13-year career. "But it's definitely a place where you have to pay attention. If you are speeding, not paying attention, then it can be dangerous."

Danielle Bellio died during a police chase after running a red light on West Broad Street Road near West Broad Village, according to police.

She had been drinking, her brother Kerry Bellio said.

"She didn't drink often, but when she did, she could not control it," he said. "She was very headstrong and very possessive of having her way. I think that night she was scared she was going to lose everything if she got caught by the police."

Court records show Danielle Bellio was facing a December court date on a charge of driving on a suspended license. In a long letter to the court, she pleaded for leniency, saying she was pulled over in October minutes after paying court fees and other costs at the Henrico Government Center off Parham Road. The costs were linked to a drunken-driving conviction.

She listed caring for her grandmother as one of the reasons she needed a less-restrictive license.

Cathy Bellio said the family moved to the Richmond area about five years ago to be near her mother's sister. They originally are from New Jersey. She described her parents, Joseph and Ruth, as devoted parents. Joseph was a heavy-equipment operator in his working years and ran his own business.

"We are your typical Italian family, always together," she said.

Danielle Bellio fell on hard times. A precocious child who aspired to be an emergency-medical technician, she nearly lost her life in a crash in Florida that killed her best friend. A brain injury from the crash left Danielle nervous, with a short attention span and subject to fits of anger and depression.

"She would do anything for you. She was the rock of our family," her mother said. "She would go into the city to give food to homeless people and the poor. Once, in Florida, she brought a homeless couple into our suite to let them take baths. They stayed overnight."

Now the family is trying to pull back together.

"Today was supposed to be the day my mother and I were going to grieve alone together for Danielle; now look what's happened to us," she said, her eyes filled with tears.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com.