GREEN TWP. – Despite the efforts of firefighters who tore open a vehicle to rescue a young woman after a car crash Monday afternoon, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said Monday evening that the 22-year-old had died.
Melissa Urbisci died at University Hospital after being flown there by a medical helicopter from a two-car crash at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Rybolt Road about 3:20 p.m.

Friends say Urbisci is a recent graduate of Cincinnati State who studied nursing and volunteered at local hospitals as she searched for a full-time nursing position. She also taught Jazzercise on the West Side and had recently signed up to be a disaster-relief volunteer for the Red Cross.

“She was the sweetest thing in the world,” said Jeannie Wirth, Urbisci’s boss at Jazzercise Fitness Centers in Bridgetown and Colerain Township. “Our students are going to be crushed.”

According to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Urbisci was a passenger in a 1994 BMW driven by Alessandro Urbisci, 20. Wirth identified him as Urbisci’s brother.

Alessandro Urbisci was turning onto Rybolt Road from Harrison Avenue when his car was struck by a 2000 Ford pickup traveling south on Harrison Avenue.

The truck was operated by Terry Enderle, 57, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., according to the sheriff’s office. He was treated at Mercy Hospital Western Hills and released Monday evening.

At the scene it took firefighters roughly 25 minutes cut through the car and reach Melissa Urbisci, who was trapped in the vehicle, Green Township fire Lt. Mike Nie said.

Her brother was also injured and taken to University Hospital by ambulance. Alessandro Urbisci is listed in stable condition at University Hospital.

Red Cross employee Jared Hamilton said Urbisci had taken disaster volunteer
training with the local chapter earlier this year.

Authorities said alcohol, drugs and speed were not factors in the crash. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office’s Traffic Safety Unit is investigating the crash.

Wirth was in shock Monday when she learned that the bubbly Urbisci, who taught three or four classes a week, was gone.

“She was just so charming and very caring about everybody,” Wirth said. “She was so innocent.”