LI woman killed, boy injured in Maryland car crash on Christmas, police say

A Christmas Day car crash in Maryland killed a 47-year-old Levittown woman and injured a 10-year-old boy in the backseat, police said.

Rebecca Kleinert, who was the front-seat passenger of the 2012 Toyota RAV4, was pronounced dead at the scene, Maryland State Police said in a statement. 

Kleinert's husband, Richard, was driving when the car went off the roadway into a ditch, struck a tree and overturned, police said. The crash was at the intersection of U.S. Route 13 and Quail Lane in Westover on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Troopers responded about 1:30 p.m., police said. Richard Kleinert and the boy were trapped and had to be extracted. 

The boy was flown to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore with injuries but in stable condition, police said.

The couple's 1-year-old dog, which had been in the car, went missing after the crash, a police spokesman said Thursday.

An officer with Somerset County Animal Control said Banjo, a wire haired terrier whose markings resemble a German shepherd, was caught on Monday night and “is on his way home to be with his family.”

The police spokesman said alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. Police did not have further information on the investigation last week.

Anyone who might help investigators should call the police at the Princess Anne Barrack at 443-260-3700.