UPDATE: The Chapel Hill Police Department identified the deceased passenger in an alert on Monday. 20-year-old Mary Elizabeth Rotunda died in Sunday’s crash. Police also said 20-year-old Flemeeja Brewer was driving the vehicle and 21-year-old Brianna Pinson was the other injured passenger from the crash.
Both Rotunda and Brewer are listed as UNC students in the university’s directory, while Pinson is not. Chapel Hill Police said all three travelers are from Greensboro. Monday’s update included that the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Additionally, the Chapel Hill Police Department’s release about the crash had the incorrect location. An earlier version of this story and Chapel Hill’s alert incorrectly said the crash happened at West Barbee Chapel Road and NC 54, while the crash instead happened at the East Barbee Chapel Road intersection with the highway. The original story published Sunday, with those corrections, is below.
A passenger died after a vehicle crash in Chapel Hill during the early morning hours of Sunday, according to police.
A release from the Chapel Hill Police Department said officers responded to a single-vehicle crash at 2:23 a.m. on Sunday at the intersection of Raleigh Road and East Barbee Chapel Road. Police said the driver of the vehicle, who was traveling east, lost control and drove into the wooded area off of the road.

The North Carolina Highway 54 and East Barbee Chapel Road intersection. (Photo via Google Maps.)
Sunday’s release said in addition to one passenger dying from the crash, the driver and another passenger suffered injuries — which are non-life-threatening and are being treated.
Chapel Hill Police said Sunday’s crash remains under investigation. No other information is being made available to the public as of 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.
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