Parents of 4 girls killed in crash on Fairfax County Parkway

The parents of four Fairfax Station girls were killed in a multi-car crash Saturday as they headed home in their sport-utility vehicle with an Italian takeout meal.

Michael K. Merrill, 47, and Jeanne M. Merrill, 42, were traveling north on Fairfax County Parkway with three of their daughters, ages 13, 3 and 18 months, when their Honda Pilot was hit by another car. The two vehicles then crossed into southbound traffic, where another car and a truck hit them, about a quarter-mile north of the Rolling Road exit, Fairfax County police said.

On Sunday, police said that the road was wet but that it was not raining at the time of the 5 p.m. accident, which remained under investigation.

The three girls were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital with minor injuries and released to relatives. The couple's fourth child, age 9, was spending time with another family for a movie night when the accident occurred, said the children's aunt, Cathy Melanson of Alexandria, a teacher at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria.

"They were the most amazing parents in the entire world and were there for anything the kids wanted to try. They worked to make it happen," said Melanson, who declined to name the children for the sake of their privacy. The two older girls attend St. Bernadette School in Springfield, Melanson said, and the 13-year-old is a nationally ranked swimmer with the Curl-Burke Swim Club.

Michael Merrill was a retired Navy pilot working on avionics security for the Department of Homeland Security after a previous career with Northrop Grumman. Jeanne Merrill was a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton working mainly from home, her sister said.

"They were so dedicated to their children," trekking to swim meets and soccer matches. "They really were a close family," Melanson said.

The 13-year-old was able to tell trauma doctors and detectives how to reach her relatives. Michael Merrill's family is from Indiana, but his wife's relatives are in Virginia.

"They were on their way back from Bertucci's with dinner -- that was it," Melanson said. "Just out to pick up dinner."