A New Jersey grandmother killed when a stolen Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon driven by joyriding teenagers slammed into her car is being remembered by loved ones as a cherished hairstylist who was preparing to step back from the career she loved.
Alice Stilwell, 67, and her partner of more than two decades, 54-year-old Robert Barr Jr., died Saturday morning after the stolen $220,000 SUV crashed into their Hyundai in Mays Landing, Atlantic County, following an hours-long police pursuit.
Stilwell, an Egg Harbor resident, began a new chapter in the early 1990s when she chose to “pursue her passion for creativity and beauty” as a hairstylist. To the mother and grandmother, however, the work was never “simply a job,” her family wrote in her obituary.
“The chair became a place where people could feel heard, understood, encouraged, and loved. She was a stylist, but she was also a counselor, a therapist, a trusted friend, and to so many of her clients, a source of comfort,” the obituary states.
Stilwell, who had 10 grandchildren, had recently cut back her schedule as she and Barr entered their retirement years, though relatives said she “could never quite bring herself to walk away from her chair.”
“She loved her clients far too much. Helping people feel beautiful, confident, and cared for was simply part of who she was,” the obituary says.
As she grew older, Stilwell also devoted more time to her art and “whimsical creations,” selling her handmade work at local farmers markets.
Authorities said the teens were speeding on the wrong side of the road when the SUV hit the couple’s sedan near Route 50 and Third Street in Mays Landing at about 7:50 a.m., sending the Hyundai careening into a nearby gas station, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
The teens escaped the car wreck largely unscathed and attempted to flee, but were quickly taken into custody, authorities said.
Local cops had been tailing a stolen 2024 G Wagon, which had Pennsylvania license plates, since about 3:40 a.m. after it blew past an officer in Longport who tried to pull the car over, according to the criminal complaint.
The luxury car was spotted hours later around 7:45 a.m. in Hamilton Township. Police gave chase but lost sight of it a few minutes before the crash, prosecutors said.
Nayshaun Brown, 18, of Atlantic City, and three juvenile teens, who were not identified due to their age, were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, joyriding and eluding police after the deadly wreck.
“The unexpected circumstances surrounding Alice’s passing have left an immeasurable hole in the lives of those who loved her, yet her legacy will not end with her passing,” Stilwell’s obituary says.
“It will live on in her daughters, her grandchildren, family, friends, the people Alice made feel beautiful, the people she comforted, the people she encouraged, and in every creative piece made by hands and hearts that she inspired.”
