Mother Doing Yardwork Is Killed by Falling Tree

Tears in his eyes, Christopher Leech stepped out of his mother's house Monday to talk about what had happened the day before in the front yard.

"It had to be a one-in-a-million shot or something," Leech said. "That's why it's all surreal."

His mother, Diane Leech, 63, was killed Sunday when a tree fell on her as she was doing yardwork, according to Montgomery County police. Recent rains might have caused the tree to fall.

"This is . . . a horribly tragic accident," a police spokeswoman said.

Christopher Leech said his mother was wearing soundproofing headphones while apparently blowing leaves in the yard on Oaktree Road, a street of towering trees in the Norbeck area.

"She couldn't hear it coming," her son said.

The tree's trunk, about 45 feet long and 12 inches in diameter at its narrowest, fell partly across the driveway, police said.

Leech's husband, Robert Hogan, heard a crash from inside the house, according to police. He went outside and found his wife under the tree in the driveway. "He tried to revive her, but he couldn't," Christopher Leech said.

Hogan called 911 shortly before 5 p.m. Rescue workers arrived to find Diane Leech under the tree. She died a short time later at a hospital.

Christopher Leech said his mother grew up in Wheaton and graduated from Wheaton High School.

"She loved to work in the garden," he said. "She loved to be outside."