Woman loses her mother in crash less than year after fiance was severely injured in another one

LORAIN — It was Kristy Helbig's habit to check on her mom before going to bed. Helbig had dropped Nancy Fleisig off at her home in the Erie West mobile home community earlier and was checking Fleisig's porch camera remotely on Saturday to make sure everything looked calm about 11 p.m. when she noticed something alarming. "About 8:46 p.m., I could hear her leaving. Then at 10, the cameras got triggered to police banging on the door," Helbig said. She called the police department, to find that her mother had been struck by a car traveling eastbound on West Erie Avenue shortly before 9 p.m. Fleising, 70, was treated at the scene by emergency medical personnel and taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she died. Helbig speculates that her mother, who did not have a car, was walking to a nearby convenience store. They'd spent all afternoon together, running errands ahead of the forecast bad weather. "We'd gone grocery shopping. I made her get all her supplies before the storm," Helbig said. "All I can think is, she was trying so hard to quit smoking. Maybe she died trying to walk by herself to get a pack of cigarettes. I don't know if she didn't want me to know, or that's why she didn't ask me to get them but that's the only thing I can think she didn't have. She didn't have dementia or mental health problems." The crash is under investigation. The driver, a juvenile, and an adult female passenger were questioned and released from the scene, police said. For Helbig, hearing sudden, bad news from police isn't new. In August 2024, police called to tell her her fiance, Rob "Runt" Vormelker was at the hospital and she needed to get there as soon as possible. Vormelker had left the house to pick up pasta for dinner when a driver fleeing police slammed into his car. The crash killed two people in the other car and severely injured Vormelker, who was kept in a medically induced coma for nearly a month and didn't return home for 131 days. Last year the driver pleaded guilty to 22 felonies and was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison. While Vormelker was still in the hospital, Helbig's grandmother, who lived with Fleisig, died. "They leaned on each other for everything, were always together," Helbig said. "She was very outgoing. I think a lot of people will remember my mom's laugh. It was just loud and infectious." Her mom loved animals, and would feed strays and rescue whatever she could, including her two kitties and a senior Maltese dog, her beloved Gino. "He's here now with me. He was my grandma's dog, and when my grandma passed, he really attached to my mom. So he's super sad. He's an old dog, and he's just really confused," Helbig said. Fleisig leaves behind three daughters: Helbig and Amanda Fleisig of Michigan and Vanessa Fleisig of Florida, and five grandchildren. Her youngest grandchild, Isaiah, just turned 1 and Fleisig hadn't met him yet. The sisters all bought a plane ticket for their mom as a Christmas gift, and she was going to fly down in March. She hung the ticket up to look at it every day and counted the days until her flight, Helbig said. "I feel a little lost right now. I just don't know how to live without my mom so like, any type of people just like being thoughtful and kind just means more than anything because right now I'm having a hard time navigating and being kind is just appreciated." Even in the shock of her family's tragedy, she sees a thread of mercy. "The police said it was a juvenile. I'm not even mad. It was a snowstorm. It was dark. And he stopped immediately. I'm just grateful that he was kind enough to stop and stay with my mom," Helbig said. "Because he didn't have to, and I know that. Last week we had one (another crash), and he said he thought he hit a deer, and he kept going. If I even hit a deer, I'd stop. I'm just so grateful she wasn't by herself like that lady was." Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.