FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP – Teachers, friends and family remembered the three young women so well: All three were friends, walked their school hallways and played on the same soccer team together.

All three were reportedly 2014 graduates of Franklin High School. They chose different colleges or different career paths, but they always found a way to get back together.

“Wasn’t it just yesterday they walked our halls and played on our soccer fields on Sunday morning?” said Somerset resident Anna Maguire Boardman, whose daughter was friends with the three.

“It hurts knowing these girls sat next to my daughter, laughed with her and grew up with her,” Boardman said.

“Now all three are gone.”

Brianna Martinez and Michaela Powell, both 23, and Uchechukw Chukwuma, 24, all of Somerset, were killed this past weekend when their car crashed underneath a tractor-trailer on Route 1 northbound in Woodbridge.

A GoFundMe page was set up to pay for the funeral arrangements for all three victims, while a separate fundraiser was set up for Michaela.

The three, according to CBS2, were celebrating Chukwuma’s 24th birthday at Somerset’s Stage House Tavern and moved on to a spot in New Brunswick before the fatal crash.

Chukwuma, who had just graduated from Syracuse University, was a “devout Christian” and a “born leader,” a co-worker told nj.com. Chukwuma was going to Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and wanted to become an entertainment lawyer, according to the report.

“She would go to TV tapings with me, hop in the car, riding along,” James Walker Jr., a managing partner at Walker & Associates where Chukwuma worked, told nj.com. “She had a hunger in her. (It was) old-school, a knack that many wannabe entertainment students don’t have.”

Martinez was close to completing college and achieving her desire to work as a teacher for special needs children, according to CBS2. One friend who had known her since they were kids remembered how smart she was, her “bright smile. It saddens me that she just lost her life like that.”

Martinez would have graduated from Middlesex County College in May 2020 with her associates degree in psychology, according to her obituary. She was an MRI receptionist in Somerset.

“She enjoyed dancing and was a very friendly and sweet young lady, according to her obitary from the Crabiel funeral home.

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Visiting hours for Martinez will be held at the Crabiel Parkwest Funeral Chapel, 239 Livingston Ave. in New Brunswick on Monday from 5:30 to 9:30 pm.

Funeral Mass will take place on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Church, 75 Morris St. in New Brunswick. Interment will be at St. Peter’s Cemetery.

Powell was remembered for her social activism, marching in Washington, D.C., against war, according to CBS2, and was seen in photos carrying a sign calling for immigration reform.

“To know Michaela was to love her,” her GoFundMe page said. “She was a kind, caring, and ambitious young woman whose smile and energy was enough to light up a room.

“She loved music, animals, and spending time with her friends and family who she adored. She was finishing up her final semester at Montclair State University and had a bright future ahead of her.”

Her mother, Linda, also has been an environmental activist, and her daughter’s death drew condolences from public officials.

Linda Powell is a member of the Franklin Township Task Force against the NESE compressor 206 and pipeline, according to the GoFundMe page. She is a member of the JFK Club, Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War and many other local organizations.

The driver of the sedan was identified as Martinez, while Powell was the front-seat passenger and Chukwuma sat in the back, police said

Police said they responded to the crash at 11:50 p.m. Friday near Fords Avenue and found the car’s occupants trapped in the vehicle underneath the tractor-trailer . The car had crashed into the back of the truck at the Fords Avenue traffic light just after it turned green, police said

After emergency personnel extricated the occupants, Martinez was transported to Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center and was later pronounced dead. The other two victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The road was closed for four hours afterward.

And now, people mourn.