Did reckless motorist cause mom's fatal wreck?

PAUL DiMAIO screamed and screamed into his phone.

Maybe it was for a few minutes, maybe more. Time had lost all meaning.

His panicked cries came out small and tinny on his wife's cellphone, lost among the unnerving sounds of a highway on Monday afternoon - the whooshing of passing motorists, and the wail of an approaching ambulance.

Moments earlier, Lisa Taylor DiMaio had been chatting with her husband about their family. The conversation came to a sudden halt just before 4 p.m. when a black sedan cut in front of her Jeep Liberty on a southbound lane of I-95, not far from State Road.

She screamed.

Paul DiMaio's mind raced. Oh God, what happened? Maybe she's OK. Maybe she's going to pick up the phone and tell me some jackass rear-ended her.

He called out to her, over and over. A Pennsylvania State Trooper finally answered after finding her phone on the side of the road. Lisa's Jeep lay in a mangled heap nearby. The 44-year-old slammed on her breaks when the sedan cut in front of her, and the SUV spiraled out of control, striking a guardrail and then flipping several times.

A doctor at Aria Health's Torresdale hospital broke the news to DiMaio: His wife of 20 years, the mother of his three children, had suffered catastrophic brain damage during the crash. She died before the day was over.

"She was an amazing mother, an amazing wife," DiMaio said, his voice wavering with emotion. "It wasn't like we were just husband and wife. She was my best friend . . . she was my voice of reason."

DiMaio, an attorney in Philadelphia, said his wife dropped off their 20-year-old daughter, Deena, and 1-year-old granddaughter, Melody, at Deena's house in Bensalem shortly before the fatal crash unfolded.

Lisa, who had off from her job as a tax examiner for the IRS, was on her way back to the couple's home in Washington Township, N.J.

"My wife was one of the safest drivers I know," DiMaio said. "She had me on speakerphone, with the phone in her lap, and when she tried to merge onto I-95 from Street Road, she said some guy swerved towards her to teach her a lesson about waiting her turn."

DiMaio wonders if that same motorist then cut off his wife a few minutes later, triggering the accident.

Pennsylvania State Trooper Rachel Jones said the black sedan, which is believed to be a late 1990s to early 2000s model, moved abruptly from the center lane to the left lane where DiMaio's wife was driving.

Jones said investigators don't have any information to suggest that the driver of the sedan was demonstrating some sort of road rage. But the driver didn't stick around, and the investigation is ongoing.

DiMaio said his family is reeling from the sudden loss of their matriarch.

His wife was fiercely protective of her oldest son, Paul, 14, who has Asperger's syndrome, and was especially close to her youngest son, Dylan, who will turn 12 in a few weeks.

The family vacationed in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in August, and Lisa and Dylan woke up early in the morning to stroll together on the beach, said Sean Stevens, Lisa's brother-in-law.

"We couldn't in good conscience let the kids see her at the hospital on Monday," he said.

"Dylan gave me an orange bracelet and said, 'Uncle Sean, can you bring it to her, so I have my mom's presence on it?'

"So I went and touched it on Lisa's hands and said, 'It was in your mom's presence, so [use it] to remember her,'" Stevens said.

DiMaio said his wife was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Washington Township. The two met in Rhode Island, while she attended Johnson & Wales University.

They moved back to Jersey in 2012. Lisa made sure her house was the go-to spot for holidays and family gatherings.

"She loved her family dearly, and was always ready to laugh," Stevens said.

Her Facebook page is a testament to her devotion to her family - endless snapshots of her wide-eyed baby granddaughter, of her kids clowning around, of kid-friendly recipes for meat loaf shaped like monster's feet and candy apples done up like Spider-Man's mask.

On Sunday, she added pictures from a quick family trip to Hershey Park. The smiles give no hint of the tragedy that was to come.

"She has so many family and friends who want to know what happened," Paul DiMaio said. "The [driver] needs to come forward, just so there can be some sense of closure for our family."

Anyone with information on the crash can contact the state Police's Trevose barracks at 215-942-3900.

On Twitter: @dgambacorta