LEONARDTOWN, MD.—In one of those terrible twists of fate where a second here or there would make a difference, two women — one a decorated Canadian astronaut with the world by the tail, the other a troubled addict just turning her life around — crossed paths on a busy stretch of road just before sundown.

The impact from the SUV Julie Payette was driving in the summer of 2011 hurled Theresa “Terry” Potts forward into an intersection, southbound on Point Lookout Rd. in July 2011. The water bottle Potts, 55, was carrying skittered along the road; her watch was ripped loose by the impact, and clumps of her hair were stuck to the crumpled windshield. She died in hospital later that Sunday night. Maryland State Police chopper made an emergency run to get her there.

St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s detectives investigated for eight months, according to an extensive police report that detailed accident reconstruction and also a subpoena for Payette’s cellphone records. They closed the case in 2012 after concluding that Potts, who had various medical issues and poor eyesight, stepped off the curb to cross the road when she should not have. Payette’s Volkswagen Touareg had the green light, and one witness said they saw Payette’s vehicle swerve in a last-minute attempt to avoid the collision.

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Payette, then part of the astronaut program, was returning to her seaside home in Maryland after a trip to Orlando, Fla. At the time she was married to Billie Flynn, a test pilot. It was Flynn she called immediately after the accident. Police determined Payette was not on the phone when the crash happened.

The significance of the timing of all of this is not lost on JoAnn Potts, Theresa’s sister. As police investigated, she learned a bit about the driver, how she was a well known astronaut, but also that she was under a great deal of stress due to the accident and the investigation. At one point, Payette sent the Potts family a card.

“She wrote in it how she deeply regretted what had happened and how she would live with it for the rest of her life,” JoAnn Potts recalled. And Potts came to learn that five months after the crash and while that investigation was underway, Payette was charged for “an altercation of some sort.” Potts was told by police that Payette was going through a difficult time and “she’s leaving the area.”

Payette and Flynn began divorce proceedings not long after that. Those records should be public but the bulky files were “in a judge’s chambers” Wednesday, a clerk said. A motion is before the court to seal the records.

Earlier this week, iPolitics published a story revealing that in December 2012 Payette was charged with assault, but those charges were quickly withdrawn and the entire case record has been “expunged” — meaning there is no record in the St. Mary’s court system. Even transcripts of a criminal court hearing, if there even was one, have been destroyed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau twice said Wednesday he had no comment when asked about the deleted charge against Payette.

He said that before any appointment to such a high-profile post, the government conducts a thorough background search on the candidate’s past. Trudeau wouldn’t say if he had been made aware of the incident prior to her appointment.

“I know that Mme. Payette is going to make an extraordinary governor general. She represents the very best of Canadian values, openness to the world, curiosity, intellectual rigour and inspiration,” he said at an event in Quebec City.

Potts believes that whatever happened in this December 2011 altercation Payette stemmed from the tragic accident months before involving her sister. Stress, Potts figures, may have played a factor. Potts did not initially feel charitable toward Payette, Canada’s future Governor General. She was angry and suspicious that powerful friends were pulling strings to cool the investigation of her sister’s death.

When almost immediately after the July 2011 accident, Payette’s insurance company called and offered to pay for the funeral she grew more suspicious, according to the investigating detective’s notes. Potts said she eventually learned that this was a policy of that particular company.

“At first I thought, oh, (Payette) is an important person and my sister is a ne’er-do-well.”

Over time, she came to realize that her sister, perhaps because of her poor eyesight, and setting sun, misjudged her timing and stepped into the rushing car, which was travelling at about 65 km/h, within the speed limit on that stretch of road.

“I feel sorry for (Payette) now. For my sister, for Terry, I’d like to think she has some peace.”

The night she died, Theresa Potts was on her way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. She had decided to walk, because, being overweight, she had been told to get in better shape for health reasons. Court records show that she had a long list of charges in her past, multiple speeding violations, failing to submit to drug or alcohol tests when believed to be driving under the influence, and in the months before her death, some drug charges (marijuana) that earned her a short stint in jail. After that, she had completed — with flying colours according to court records — another rehabilitation program.

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“The thing is, Terry had just started going down a better path,” her sister recalled. Potts had a heart of gold, and a “wonderful personality.” She lived most of her life not too far from where she died; went to a local high school, graduated with a bachelor of science degree in social sciences from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She went on to work in programs for disadvantaged youths as a counsellor, before succumbing to some of her own addiction demons. For many years she worked for the Charles County Mental Health Department.

According to her obituary, she loved reading, nature, wildlife and above all things, Christmas. “She never failed to watch It’s A Wonderful Life a multitude of times during the season and probably would have all year long if we let her,” her family wrote in the obituary. “She was always willing to help and was a friend to all in need.”

The Star was unable to reach Payette with questions about this story.