Dental records confirm crash victim's identity

A mom and daughter have a blissful week, then tragedy strikes.

By AUSTIN BOGUES
Published July 18, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - It was the kind of day that parents dream of having with their children. And it would be their last.

Julia Kauzlarich and her daughter, Whitney Mathias, 21, just returned on July 8 from a fun week together horseback riding and relaxing at a ranch in North Carolina. After being dropped off at her father's house, Whitney said she was going to a store to gas up her vehicle and get some cat food.

Call me once you get home, Kauzlarich told her. "I love you, mummy," Whitney said.

A few hours later, at 11:30, the phone rang. Kauzlarich thought it was Whitney. Instead, it was a phone call that every parent dreads.

Whitney's father, Thomas Mathias, was on the line. There has been an accident, he said.

Whitney's 2005 Dodge Durango had crashed into a tree along Hickory Hill Road in Spring Lake and caught fire. While authorities waited a week to say that Whitney had been in the vehicle because the victim was burned so severely, her parents knew.

"My obvious horror was that she hadn't been killed on impact," Kauzlarich said. Using dental records, officials made a positive identification Tuesday.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers believe Whitney may have overcorrected on the curvy road and hit the tree. Another driver who saw the blaze called 911.

Even before getting official confirmation, Kauzlarich held a memorial service for her daughter on Saturday.

The people at Mohn's Funeral Home in Seminole told Kauzlarich it was one of the largest crowds they had ever had.

Mourners were lined up outside, unable to get in for the service. Kauzlarich met dozens of her daughter's friends, people she had never known about.

It was a testament to her daughter's ability to make friends, she said. "She could light up a whole room with the sparkle in her eye and her wide smile," Kauzlarich said.

Whitney had been a cheerleader at Osceola High School and graduated in 2004. She moved to Brooksville last year to attend Pasco-Hernando Community College and she worked at Applebee's in Brooksville. She hoped to become a pediatric nurse one day.

Her parents bought her the sport utility vehicle because they wanted her to have a safe, sturdy vehicle. When Whitney moved to Brooksville, they quietly installed a GPS system in the SUV.

"We never told her," Kauzlarich said. "We were just worried about her safety as a young woman moving out on her own."

Austin Bogues can be reached at abogues@sptimes.com or 352 754-6117.

[Last modified July 17, 2007, 23:18:16]