20 Years Ago Someone Ran Over A Nun On Cottman Avenue and Left Her There
by Alex lloyd Gross
Jan 9 2006, Sister Paul Mercedes Perreca, IHM, was walking to St.Martin Of Tours School at 6:25 AM. Someone driving a red Ford Pickup truck hit her, leaving her to die on Cottman Avenue, at Hawthorne Street. The driver sped off, stopped a block away, then sped off, police said.
The truck, is a 1987 to 1989 Ford F150 pick-up truck.
Color: Two-tone red.
Distinctive Features: Silver running boards; “F O R D” embossed on the tailgate; 8-foot bed with no
toolbox or ladder rack at the time.
Damage: The vehicle left the scene with a missing or broken front, driver-side amber lamp.
That truck had not been seen since. Police stopped multiple trucks in the weeks that followed the hit and run. None of those trucks have been the ones that hit the nun. In 2006, security cameras were not everywhere, license plate readers were being invented and there were no eyewitnesses that could give a more detailed description of what happened.
Could the truck be from out of state? Could it have been kept in a garage for years, before being repaired or possibly gotten rid of as is, with damage? Was the truck stolen or the driver drunk? Was the truck being driven by a household member that did not have permission to drive it? Any of those scenarios are plausible.
A reward for information leading to an arrest remains active through the Citizens Crime Commission.
Authorities urge anyone who may have lived in the neighborhood at the time, worked in automotive repair, or heard details regarding the crash to come forward. Even the smallest detail could be the break investigators need.
215-546-8477Is the number to call.