BOSTON -- After the death of a Boston woman and tunnel panels by the dozens in question, Monday night's fatal ceiling collapse in the Interstate-90 connector has everyone from the engineers to the governor scrambling to figure out what went wrong.

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that a 12-ton section of the ceiling gave way onto the car of a couple traveling to Logan International Airport, killing the passenger instantly, slightly injuring the driver, her husband.

Gov. Mitt Romney has begun legal proceedings to remove Massachusetts Turnpike Chairman Matt Amorello, and Attorney General Tom Reilly has launched a criminal investigation.

In 1998, former Inspector General Robert Cerasoli warned Beacon Hill that attempts to fix problems in the Ted Williams Tunnel, which is adjacent to the scene of Monday night's disaster, were mismanaged and mishandled. Anchor bolts used to attach the ceiling panels to the Ted Williams Tunnel roof were too short. They tried to quickly find a solution, and that turned out costly.

"By the time they got done drilling test holes, having to fill those test holes in with cement, drilling the final holes for the anchor bolts, we came up with an estimate that this process did, in fact, affect the structural integrity of the tunnel," Cerasoli said.

Amorello said Tuesday that while the design in the tunnel where the panels fell is different, the tiebacks, or bolts used, are similar to what is in the Ted Williams Tunnel.

Neither he nor his engineers said if the problems Cerasoli highlighted ever existed in the Interstate-90 tunnel, although he indicated some kind of corrective work was later done.

"If they did corrective work in the ceilings, what was in place before they did the corrective work? Was it the same as what was in the Ted Williams Tunnel?" Cerasoli said.

"Nobody really knows what the problem is here. Until somebody really does a forensic investigation of why this panel came down, it's a little dangerous to do too much speculation about what may be the cause of the problem," John Christian said.

Christian is one of the engineering consultants that Amorello is bringing in to figure out what went wrong. Christian said that he wants to examine the grout, he wants to find out the sequence of events of the disaster and he wants to see all construction and inspection records.

"One of the things could very well be that the bolts were too short. It could be that something happened to the grouting material," Christian said. "I wouldn't be particularly concerned driving through the Ted Williams Tunnel."

"I'd say that I'd be a little concerned especially in light of recent problem (Monday) evening," Cerasoli said.

Cerasoli said this is a prime example of what happened repeatedly during the mid to late 1990s -- cost savings and quality were often overlooked in order to meet deadlines.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority was under enormous political pressure to finish Big Dig construction and open roadways to the public.

In response to Cerasoli's report, Cellucci said that he would find it "surprising" if there were any safety issues.