Crawling woman killed on freeway identified

An East Valley freeway was shut down for around seven hours Friday as police investigated the death of Calcia B. Conway, 21, who was run over by as many as three cars as she crawled on the highway.

Traffic was allowed back on westbound U.S. 60 a few minutes before noon Friday.

Conway was hit and killed shortly before 5 a.m. triggering a collision that closed all of the westbound lanes of the U.S. 60, also known as the Superstition Freeway, at McClintock Drive.

The highway remained closed through the morning rush hour.

Bart Graves of the Arizona Department of Public Safety said what the woman was doing on the freeway was "a mystery."

"We don't know how she got here," said Graves. "We don't know what she was doing in the HOV lanes, crawling."

Graves said there was a possibility the woman had been hurt before she was hit on the freeway.

"The drivers who struck the victim are traumatized," Graves said.

Rebecah Bednarek said she was on her way to work when "I saw a body in the road. So I just slowed down and came around it in the fast lane."

She said another car, which apparently had run over the woman, was stopped in the middle of the road, so she pulled off to the side and called 911.

"It's beyond a shock," Bednarek said when asked to describe her feelings.

Westbound traffic into Phoenix durig the morning rush hour was routed onto the northbound Loop 101. There were delays, but traffic reporters said the usual lighter volume on Fridays kept the congestion from being worse.