Driver in Crash That Killed Broadway Star's Child, Unborn Baby Kills Self

The woman charged with hitting and killing two young children in a Brooklyn crosswalk in March was found dead Tuesday in an apparent suicide, NBC New York reports. Dorothy Bruns, 44, was charged in May with crimes including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and assault and was facing 15 years behind bars. A friend went to check on Bruns after not hearing from her, and police ultimately responded to her Staten Island home and found her unresponsive, People reports. Pills and a suicide note were found nearby. CBS New York reports the note said something to the effect of, "I don't want to live like this anymore."

Bruns, who had a number of driving citations and accidents in her past, had been explicitly instructed by a doctor not to drive due to medical issues when she allegedly ran a red light and hit a group of pedestrians, including pregnant Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles, her friend, and their children. Bruns said she had a seizure that caused the accident. Both children—Abigail Blumenstein, 4, and Joshua Lew, 20 months—were killed, and Miles ended up losing her unborn baby just before her due date due to injuries suffered in the crash. Miles returned to the stage for the first time after the crash in August, reprising her role in The King and I for which she won a Tony in 2015. (The driver who hit and killed three siblings as they crossed to their school bus says she didn't realize it was a bus.)