Friends mourn dancer’s death

Andrea Marie Spossard was killed last Saturday morning on Highway 99 when an allegedly drunk driver swerved his pickup into the oncoming lane and collided head-on with her ‘83 Thunderbird.

Spossard, who was wearing her seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene just north of the Butte-Tehama county line, while the 17-year-old driver of the pickup was treated for minor injuries, including a broken ankle, before being arrested and booked into Tehama County Juvenile Hall. The accident is still under investigation.

Spossard, a 24-year-old Chico native who for the past four years has worked as an exotic dancer at Centerfolds, was recently a cover model for a March 11, 2004, CN&R story on Chico’s adult-entertainment industry.

Known locally as much by her stage name of Jade as her given name, Spossard leaves behind a mother with health problems for whom she was caring and her boyfriend Adam Rix.

"[Andrea was] the most compassionate and selfless person,” Rix shared in a phone interview Wednesday. “She was a tremendous gift to the world.”

Rix, who just completed Army officer candidate school ("Andrea put me through that"), said Spossard was on her way back to Chico from Red Bluff after visiting a friend, former Centerfolds manager Paul Tharaldsen, whom the Army was deploying to Germany the following day. It was only a coincidence that the accident occurred so close to the place where she’d worked.

On Wednesday night at Centerfolds the dancers held a benefit performance, with all proceeds going to help with funeral costs.

Services will be held Monday or Tuesday. Anyone wishing to contribute to Spossard’s memorial fund or to get info on the memorial service can contact Adam Rix at: night.rix@us.army.mil.