A Children's Hospital volunteer counselor was killed when her northbound car crashed into two other vehicles in the southbound lanes of the Parkway North early yesterday.
Crista N. Stoyanoff, 21, of Aspinwall, was driving north in the southbound lanes at 2:51 a.m. when the accident occurred about a quarter-mile south of the Venture Street exit, a spokesman for the Allegheny County medical examiner reported.

Ms. Stoyanoff was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy and toxicology tests will be performed.

State police said they believe Ms. Stoyanoff entered the wrong side of the highway from the south end of East Street, a one-way roadway used by traffic that exits the southbound lanes of Interstate 279 on the North Side. Her car would have traveled about a quarter-mile the wrong way on East Street, which is one-way southbound, parallel to the highway.

Before Ms. Stoyanoff's 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier had gone a mile on the expressway, it collided with a southbound pickup truck driven by Jeremy S. Byers, 22, of Mount Washington. He was treated and released at Allegheny General Hospital. His two passengers, both 22-year-olds from Oakmont, were not injured.

The car then careened into the path of a southbound tractor-trailer driven by Enrico R. Fazio, 41, of Coraopolis. Mr. Fazio also was treated at Allegheny General and released.

The wreckage of Ms. Stoyanoff's car was along the concrete barrier that separates regular traffic lanes from HOV lanes, which were closed at the time.

The HOV lanes remained closed and southbound traffic was at a standstill until 6:20 a.m. when police completed processing of the scene.

Investigators had not determined yesterday why she was driving the wrong way.

Ms. Stoyanoff was a student at Community College of Allegheny County's Allegheny campus. She volunteered to counsel youngsters who are heart patients at Children's Hospital and participated in the facility's Children's Cardiology Heart Camp.

Marc Lukasiak, a spokesman at Children's, said Ms. Stoyanoff had been a heart patient herself since childhood. He said it is not unusual for former child patients to remain in the care of their doctors at Children's and to volunteer with other children with cardiac problems.

Ms. Stoyanoff is survived by her father, Nicholas G. Stoyanoff of McCandless; her mother, Carolyn Stoyanoff Hein, and her stepfather, Timothy Hein Sr., of Aspinwall; three sisters, Chelsea M. and Cassandra L. Stoyanoff and Cara Bradley; stepsisters Samantha and Amanda Hein; a stepbrother, Timothy Hein Jr.; and her maternal grandmother, Clara Otyuce.

The family suggests memorial contributions in her name to Children's Hospital, c/o Children's Cardiology Heart Camp, 7705 Fifth Ave., Suite 2826, Pittsburgh 15219.