Hempfield woman faces homicide by vehicle charge in connection with 2022 crash

When Betty Tinsley Wagner turned 73 in August 2022, her birthday wish was good health for her family, daughter Kim McMullen remembered.

It was the last one she’d spend with them — Wagner was killed about six weeks later in a two-vehicle crash on Arona Road in Hempfield. The loss has been devastating to her family.

“It’s been very difficult, things are just not the same anymore,” said McMullen, of Monroeville.

“Even being a well-established adult, I’m still suffering,” agreed Wagner’s son, Mario Tinsley, of Peters Township.

On Thursday, state police arrested a Hempfield woman who they said was impaired by drugs and caused the Sept. 21, 2022, crash that killed Wagner.

Breanne Marie Weber, 24, is charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, reckless endangerment and related offenses.

She was in the Westmoreland County jail on a $100,000 bond.

Troopers were called to Arona Road around 5 p.m. where a witness pointed out Weber sitting on the grass as being the driver of a Chevrolet Trailblazer that crossed the center line around a bend in the road and slammed into the Kia Sedona that Wagner was driving, according to court papers.

Upon talking to Weber at the scene, police believed she was impaired. Weber told investigators she had taken prescribed anxiety medication the night before and used heroin before the crash.

A toxicology report showed she had amphetamine, methamphetamine, xylazine, fentanyl and norfentanyl in her system, according to court papers.

A Feb. 13 preliminary hearing is set. Weber did not have an attorney listed in online court records.

It’s been difficult coping with the sudden loss of their mother, Tinsley and McMullen said. Wagner was living at the time in Fayette County, but previously was a New Stanton resident where she worked for UPS for more than three decades.

They described her as a positive, healthy woman who was generous and helpful to others.

“She was a trustworthy, God-fearing woman, she was deep into Christianity,” Tinsley said.

Wagner was married to John H. Wagner for 33 years until his death in 2017. She remarried Robert E. Lee in 2021. He died in 2022.

In addition to McMullen and Tinsley, Wagner is survived by three grandchildren, siblings and other relatives. A son, Timothy, preceded her in death.