An Allentown woman charged with vehicular homicide in a fatal wrong-way crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension in Lehigh County last year was arrested Wednesday in Philadelphia by a U.S. Marshals task force.
State police said Onanyeli Rosario-Mesa, 25, was driving an SUV southbound in the northbound lanes of Interstate 476 near mile marker 67 in Washington Township around 9 a.m. March 30, 2025, when she ran into a group of five motorcyclists traveling the opposite direction. John Sweeney, 50, of Bristol, Bucks County, was killed and a 24-year man, also from Bristol, was injured.
An arrest warrant was filed last month, after Rosario-Mesa was charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, DUI/unsafe driving, careless driving-unintentional death, and driving on one-way roadway.
Authorities said she had a blood alcohol content between 0.10% and 0.16%. In Pennsylvania, the legal BAC limit is 0.08%.
According to the U.S. Marshals, an anonymous tip was received Tuesday that Rosario-Mesa was hiding in Philadelphia with her boyfriend, who had an apartment in the 2700 block of Stanwood Street in Northeast Philadelphia. Rosario-Mesa was arrested without incident at the apartment around 11 a.m., and transported to the state police Pocono barracks.
“No action can reverse this senseless tragedy, but I hope that today’s arrest represents progress in delivering justice for the Sweeny family,” Robert Clark, supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal for the Eastern Pennsylvania Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force, said in a statement.
Rosario-Mesa was sent to Lehigh County Jail, where she remained as of Wednesday afternoon, on $500,000 bail.
Police said video surveillance footage showed her vehicle driving the wrong way on I-476, passing several vehicles that had pulled over to avoid her.