Dylan Donovan Vecchiarelli

This memorial website was created to remember our dearest Dylan Donovan Vecchiarelli who was born in United States Florida on August 15, 1991 and passed away on April 2, 2008. You will live forever in our memories and hearts.

                   IF I COULD HAVE A LIFETIME WISH

                 A DREAM THAT COULD COME TRUE

               I'D PRAY TO GOD WITH ALL MY HEART

                       FOR YESTERDAY AND YOU

       A THOUSAND WORDS CAN'T BRING YOU BACK

                      I KNOW BECAUSE I'VE TRIED

              AND NEITHER WILL A MILLION TEARS

                      I KNOW BECAUSE I'VE CRIED

           YOU LEFT BEHIND MY BROKEN HEART

                      AND HAPPY MEMORIES TOO.

                     I NEVER WANTED MEMORIES

                            I ONLY WANTED YOU.

              A MILLION TIMES I'VE NEEDED YOU,

                    A MILLION TIMES I'VE  CRIED,

           IF LOVE ALONE COULD'VE SAVED YOU,

                YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE DIED.

                   IN LIFE  I LOVED YOU DEEPLY,

                     IN DEATH I LOVE YOU STILL.

              IN MY HEART YOU HOLD A PLACE

                 NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER FILL.

            IT BROKE MY HEART TO LOSE YOU,

                BUT YOU DID NOT GO ALONE,

                PART OF ME WENT WITH YOU,

            THAT DAY GOD TOOK YOU HOME.

You Are My Little Angel,
Up Above In Heaven Now,
I Wish That I Could Hold You,
If Only There Was A Way How...

You Are Still My Little One,
I Keep You In My Heart,
I Know Someday I'll See You,
And We Wont Be Apart...

But Until Then I'll Think Of You,
In The Rain Or Shine,
I Will Keep On Loving You,
You'll Always Be Mine...

So Take Care My Darling,
In Heaven Up Above,
And Until I See You,
I'll Send Up All My Love...

You enjoyed riding your quad in the woods with your friends, you LOVED your music especially blasting it really really loud even late at night, you loved your cell phone you were always texting or downloading ringtones, you loved downloaded movies late at night. when we lived on millington ave you would hang out with me and my friends and walk to the diner late at night on the weekends.hanging out making bonfires, just driving around with no destination, playing ball with Ray and your friends, watching movies (we watched Norbit together about a week before you were in the hospital and i swear i never saw or heard you laugh that hard in a long time i enjoyed just seeing you crack up), you loved giving Jacklynn piggy back rides and carrying her all around the house and she loved trying to beat you up and take your hat, you loved hanging on moms shoulder all the time saying "I love you mom, mom i love you"

A township woman originally charged with two counts of assault by auto after causing a motor vehicle accident on March 3 now is charged with death by auto, police said. Julie Michaels, 35, is accused of crossing over the yellow line of Silver Grove Road on that date and striking another vehicle head on. Dylan Vecchiarelli, 16, of Passaic County, a passenger in the other car, died as a result of his injuries at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at Morristown Memorial Hospital. Michaels was arrested without incident and remanded to the Sussex County jail in lieu of $125,000 bail, police said. According to township police, Michaels falsely identified herself as Jodie A. Callaway of Moscow, Iowa, at the scene, and later was charged with fourth-degree hindering apprehension and prosecution, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, failure to keep right and driving while suspended. The investigation and subsequent arrest of Michaels was conducted by Detective Karl Ludwig of the Hardyston Police Department.
My brother was 16 years and and him and a friend were on there way to walmart one night and was hit head on by a 35 year old woman,a drunk driver. When the police showed up the woman gave all false information and we came to find out she had no insurance suspended license and no registration.As i was told him pulled himself out of the car into the middle of the highway. He was taking to the hospital by helicopter. He had suffered from a bleeding spleen broken femur and needed open heart surgery because he had a tear in his aorta . My mother and i never left his side. He was taken down for his surgery's the next morning and they were unable to perform anything on him because his lungs were also collapsing. We were allowed back in ICU to go see him, when we got into the room he was now on life support and had to be put in a chemically induced coma and paralyzed so he wouldn't fight the help he was getting. everyday there was something new. His lungs were getting worse and collapsing even more his kidneys were failing, infection after infection just kept coming up. My mom and I slept at the hospital and took shifts.   We talked to him all the time letting him know we were all there for him and just hoping he would make it through. He survived in the hospital for 29 days and my mom my aunt and I watched him pass, i can still picture the way he looked and felt. How can a woman or anyone do something like this and feel no guilt. My brother Dylan was not only my younger brother he was my friend and acted as if he was my older brother always looking out for me and trying to protect me and now he is gone and it just seems to get harder and harder by the day.

Dylan was a loving teenager, made all his friends laugh and everyone knew who he was, he was always much loved by all. Most of all he loved his family and would always do anything in his power to protect all of us. Im his 21 year old sister and he acted as if he was my older brother looking out for me all the time. Not only was he my brother he was also my friend my best friend, i told him everything no matter what it was and he was a good listener and helped cheer me up. I miss our drives in my car with no destination, just took them to take and hang out and when we got bored i would sing my country and as much as he didnt like my country music or my singing he learned the songs i played the most and sang them with me i loved it when he did that cuz i know he didnt want to but he did it for me to make me smile. He loved his video games and playing them with his brother Raymond and playing ball in the front yard with him also they both enjoyed spending there time together. I would hold our sister Jacklynn in my arms and chase Dylan around so she could "beat him up" she got a kick out of that and of course he would let us win. We all loved goofing around with eachother all the time. I still remember the time Dyl swore he could pick me up and our whole family was standing in the kitchen and i let him pick me up, he dropped me on my head and said i was too heavy lol everyone got a kick out of that. We were such a happy family always there for one another.He was loved by all and always will be, he will never be forgotten by many people, while he was still on earth he touched so many peoples hearts and will forever live in ours.

Press Release

October 23, 2008

Sussex County Prosecutor David J. Weaver announced that the Sussex County Grand Jury handed up an indictment to the Superior Court, at the courthouse in Newton on October 23, 2008.

The six count indictment charges Julie Michaels, age 37, of Wayne with second degree Vehicular Homicide, third degree Assault by Auto, third degree Driving With a Suspended License and being involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash, fourth degree Driving with a Suspended License and being involved in a motor vehicle crash resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, third degree Hindering Apprehension and third degree Possession of Cocaine. The case was investigated by Hardyston Police Department and the Sussex County Crash Analysis and ReconstructionTeam. It is alleged that on March 3, 2008, while intoxicated and having a suspended license, Julie Michaels did recklessly drive her vehicle causing the death of Dylan Vecchiarelli .

The case was presented to the Grand Jury by Assistant Prosecutor Michael W. Briegel. Arraignment before the Superior Court in Newton will be within the next 6 weeks.

Hardyston woman rejects plea deal in death-by-auto case

By TOM HOWELL JR.

thowell@njherald.com

A Hardyston woman accused of causing an auto accident that killed a 16-year-old along state Route 23 told an officer on scene that “in Iowa, you can drive on both sides of the road,” the officer testified Thursday.

Julie Michaels, 39, is heading to trial next week instead of accepting a plea deal that calls for 14 years in prison for allegedly crossing the double yellow lines March 3, 2008, and striking a Mitsubishi Gallant with her Jeep Cherokee near Silver Grove Road.

The crash seriously injured the other car’s driver, 20-year-old Danilo Diaz, of West Milford; passenger Dylan Vecchiarelli, also of PassaicCounty, died about a month later from his injuries.

Michaels initially told police she was Jodie L. Calloway, of Moscow, Iowa, but had no identification to back it up and confessed her true identity right before fingerprinting at the jail, according to police. Court records say she was born in Moline, Ill.

She did not have a driver’s license and may have been impaired by drugs during the crash, authorities said.

Michaels said Thursday she will not accept a plea offer, in which prosecutors would recommend consecutive nine- and five-year prison terms at sentencing in the Superior Court in Newton.

She would have to serve 85 percent of the first term before she is eligible for parole, and the court could impose a discretionary 2-year period of ineligibility during the second term, under the rejected deal.

Judge N. Peter Conforti also presided over a Miranda hearing Thursday to determine whether Michaels’ right to remain silent was violated moments after the crash and during two hospital visits by police in the ensuing hours and days.

Defense attorney George Daggett argued officers did not inform Michaels of her rights in a timely fashion, obtaining statements and a blood sample through conversation before they asked her to sign a Miranda rights card.

Daggett and Assistant Prosecutor Michael Briegel must submit their final arguments to the court by Wednesday, when jury selection is expected to begin.

Hardyston Sgt. John Broderick testified he responded to the crash site at 10:13 p.m. and found the Jeep facing south and straddling the yellow lines. The driver, Michaels, said she was OK and made the “both sides of the road” comment with somewhat slurred speech, he said.

The driver of the Mitsubishi was screaming, “She was on my side of the road,” according to Broderick.

Daggett called Michaels’ comment a “contemporaneous utterance” that he might address at trial, but not in the motion to suppress her string of statements to police.

Patrolman Nicholas Calandra said he served Michaels with criminal complaints the following morning at St. Clare’s Hospital in Sussex Borough.

During their conversation, Michaels said she thought she had been driving on a two-lane highway with a grass median in the center, according to Calandra.

There isn’t a grass median on Route 23 heading south from the Franklin Borough line, but there is one about two miles farther south from the crash. It was unclear how, or if, this line of conversation tied into Michaels’ reported “both sides of the road” comment to Broderick.

Hardyston Officer Karl Ludwig testified he met with Michaels at the hospital the prior evening, just after the crash. She said she didn’t understand why she needed to be in the hospital, and “that she hated New Jersey and she wanted to get back to Iowa,” according to Ludwig.

Ludwig said he received varying birth dates from Michaels — who at the time referred to herself as Jodie Calloway — and suspected something was amiss. A motor vehicles check from Iowa got a hit for Calloway with an alias of Julie Michaels, he said.

“Was it Julie Michaels or Jodie Calloway?” Ludwig said, relating the confusion of that night.

Michaels said she had taken Xanax before the crash and cocaine four days prior to cope with the recent death of her grandmother, according to Ludwig.

Ludwig received consent to take a blood sample from Michaels, and she was taken to jail by sheriff’s officers the next day. Court records say Michaels posted her $25,000 bail March 7, 2008.

Ludwig said he spoke to Michaels again March 8 at Newton Memorial Hospital, where she was admitted for a medical issue — perhaps a panic attack — when a Hardyston officer went to her home to serve complaints in her actual name.

During a conversation at the hospital, Michaels said she used cocaine on the day of the accident, and not days prior, according to Ludwig.