NORTH ANDOVER - An 18-year-old North Andover woman will face charges of vehicular homicide and speeding in the crash in which one of her high-school classmates was killed and another was injured.

Samantha Monteiro, 18, of 38 Columbia Road, was driving a Volkswagen Jetta when it crashed into the brick wall of a building at 57 High St. late on the night of April 27.

Monteiro's friend, Jessica Finney, 18, a freshman at Salem State College, died in the crash.

Finney's mother, Susan Rennie, said yesterday she did not want to talk about the charge against Monteiro, but said her daughter should still be alive.

"This is just terrible," she said. "It shouldn't have happened."

A third passenger, Amanda Jensen, 19, suffered broken bones in the wreck. Monteiro, who suffered minor injuries, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Karen Dawley, spokeswoman for District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office, said yesterday that a clerk magistrate's hearing was held Friday at Lawrence District Court during which it was determined that Monteiro should be charged.

Dawley said Monteiro would be sent a summons to appear in court on Sept. 7 for arraignment.

Police said Monteiro also has been cited on a charge of speeding, but they would not say how fast she drove prior to hitting the building. The speed limit on that part of High Street is 30 mph.

If convicted on the vehicular homicide charge, Monteiro could be sentenced to up to 21/2 years in jail. The charge is a misdemeanor. The speeding charge is a civil offense, police said.

Finney was the big sister in her family. Her brother, Sammy, 5, and her sister, Kayla, 3, miss her, her mother said.

"She took care of her little brother and sister," Rennie said. "Her nieces and nephews - she always had a child on her hip."

"I just want her memory to be a good one," the mother said. "We just want her back, and we can't have her."

Finney would have been heading back to Salem State in two weeks to begin her sophomore year. She was looking forward to living in a suite with her friends there, her mother said.

"She loved school," Rennie said.

At Finney's wake, 1,300 people signed a book, and family and friends frequently visit her grave at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery off Waverley Road.

"She's never alone up there," Rennie said.

Finney often stayed in her college dormitory during the weekends, but she came home on the day of the crash, which was a Friday.

"I picked her up from school that day to do her laundry," said her grandmother, Joanne Rennie.

Finney ate dinner with her family before going out with her friends that night.

Finney's mother and grandmother said people around town have been helping the family through the tragedy.

"The schools, the town, the police, they have been wonderful to us," Susan Rennie said.

Sargent Elementary School, which Finney attended, plans to build a memorial to her. North Andover Middle School, where Joanne Rennie is the secretary, established a student citizenship award in Finney's name.

Finney, Monteiro and Jensen all graduated North Andover High School in 2006.