CLAREMONT — Since Friday, three women have died in separate motor vehicle accidents in or near the Upper Valley.

On Friday morning near the Claremont/Cornish town line on the Windsor Road, Kim L. Fontaine, 63, was driving a Chevy Cobalt that collided with a propane truck just after 8:30. Fontaine, a Newbury, N.H. resident, died at the scene despite efforts by first responders to resuscitate her, Claremont Police Deputy Chief of Police Mark D. Grasso said.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated, police said.

At around 3:40 on Friday afternoon, Sharon McLaughlin, 72, of Claremont, was driving south in a 2009 Suzuki on Route 12 in the town of Westmoreland, N.H. when she crossed the center line and struck a 2021 Toyota Venza, New Hampshire State Police said in a news release.

State Police said McLaughlin was pronounced dead at the scene. The occupants of the Toyota, Zachary Turpin and Jillian Turpin of Franklin, Mass., were transported to Cheshire Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The accident remains under investigation.

A third woman, 30-year-old Jacquelyn Decareau, died after crashing a 2017 Toyota Tacoma in a field in Pike on Route 25 near the Haverhill/Benton, N.H. town line on Sunday, according to a New Hampshire State Police news release. Decareau, the vehicle’s lone occupant, was not wearing a seatbelt.

Troopers said speed and impairment caused the crash. Anyone with information about the crash can contact Trooper Shawn Slaney at 603-846-3333 or Shawn.B.Slaney@dos.nh.gov.

— Staff report

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