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Brooke -- a junior who was a cheerleader, coached youth cheerleading and played high school volleyball and lacrosse -- was alone, police said, when the Honda Pilot she was driving ran off a South Brunswick road and struck a tree just after 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Firefighters extricated Costanzo and took her to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick, where she was pronounced dead just after dawn Monday, a source connected to the family told Daily Voice.
Less than 24 hours after the crash, nearly $30,000 had been raised on a GoFundMe account created to help the Costanzo family, who's had to deal with unimaginable tragedy the past several years.
In March 2011, the Garfield home where Brooke's mother, Janine DiGirolamo Costanzo, grew up -- and where her grandparents and aunt still lived at the time -- was destroyed by fire.
Two months later, Brooke's father, Timothy Costanzo, was killed in a motorcycle crash.
SEE: Tragic Accident Claims Life Of Saddle Brook Tradesman
Besides her mom, Brooke leaves older twin sisters, Samantha and Paige.
The candlelight vigil for Brooke was scheduled from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday at SBHS. Township police and firefighters will be on hand to light the area, handle traffic and contribute in other ways.
"We express our deepest sympathies and prayers to the family and will do whatever we can as a community to support and comfort them at this most tragic time," Police Chief Robert Kugler said.
Vigil attendees are asked to wear purple.
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