Father uses app to track down teen daughters only to see their tragic fate in person: 'It's just unreal'



A father in New York state is sharing the heartbreaking account of how he learned of the tragic deaths of his two teenage daughters after using an app to track their location.

Hailey Trumble, 19, and Shelby Trumble, 17, went to the Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, New York, on Aug. 1.

'It's just unreal. ... I still can't come to terms with it.'

Before the teens left the home, their father gave them $100 for the amusement park and told them he loved them, and to "have fun and behave," according to People magazine.

Brian Trumble, 45, said of the talk with his daughters earlier that morning, "Of course, they were adults. They didn't need to be told to be behaved, but this is what I always tell them."

Trumble had no idea that it would be their final face-to-face conversation.

After spending the day at the amusement park with Trumble's girlfriend, the sisters returned to her home before going back out again late that afternoon.

When a text to his daughters received no reply, Trumble used the Find My Friends app to determine their location. He saw that they had not moved from a point on a local road in the nearby town of Cato, approximately 3 miles away.

As Trumble neared the location, a police officer blocking the way stopped him, informing him that there had been a terrible car accident in which a girl had died.

"I just sat on my bumper and I couldn't stand up," Trumble recalled of the gut-wrenching moment.

Josh Lovejoy, one of the firemen at the scene of the fatal car crash, told Trumble that he stayed with Hailey right until the end.

The distraught father soon learned that Shelby also succumbed to her injuries from the deadly car accident.

The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that the girls were driving eastbound in their 2005 Chevy Cobalt when the "vehicle crested a hill and crossed into the opposite lane, striking a second vehicle."

The Cobalt smashed into a 2016 Jeep Cherokee being driven by a 59-year-old woman. She was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries and was said to be in stable condition, according to police.

Trumble believes his daughters were unfamiliar with the road, which he described as being "hilly" and winding.

Since his daughters' tragic deaths, the family has "been holding on to each other and just coping and trying to deal," said Trumble.

"It's just unreal," he added. "I still can't come to terms with it."

Trumble said the knowledge that Hailey and Shelby would be cremated and interred "so they'll always be together" gave him some peace.

As does telling the world about his girls, who he said were both "simple country girls" at heart.

"I want people to know their story," he said. "They were sweet and beautiful and just lovely."

"They touched so many people," Trumble continued. "Everybody that met them just loved them ... They were pretty much just figuring out what they were wanting to do."

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to assist the family in paying for the funerals. At the time of publication, it had raised over $46,000.

A funeral service for Hailey and Shelby will be held Aug. 10 at Traub Funeral Home in Central Square, New York.

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6 dead, including 2 children, from wrong-way, head-on collision in Texas: 'Devastating scene and very emotional'



Six people are dead, including two children, after a deadly car crash in Texas on Tuesday afternoon. Police noted that the fatal car accident left a "devastating scene" and has been very emotional for responding officers.

A preliminary investigation found that a white 2014 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 67 when the pickup truck entered the northbound lane in a no-passing zone. The Silverado smashed into a Honda Odyssey minivan in a head-on collision, according to a statement posted by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office on its official Facebook page.

The devastating car crash resulted in "heavy damage" to both vehicles, just west of Cleburne, approximately 30 miles south of Fort Worth, Texas. The highway was closed for hours as investigators processed the crash site.

The driver and passenger of the Chevy pickup truck — both 17-year-olds from Glen Rose — were traveling the wrong way on the highway and experienced injuries from the collision. The teenagers were transported to Fort Worth hospitals in critical condition.

However, the people in the minivan suffered horrific fates in the deadly car accident.

The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the six people traveling in the Odyssey minivan who perished in the car collision: 28-year-old driver Rushil Barri, 36-year-old Naveena Potabathula, 64-year-old Nageswararao Ponnada, 60-year-old Sitamahalakshmi Ponnada, 10-year-old Krithik Potabathula, and 9-year-old Nishidha Potabathula. A 26-year-old male from Georgia was critically injured and rushed to a local hospital.

All but one of the deceased are residents of Alpharetta, Georgia. The 28-year-old driver was from Irving, Texas.

The Telugu Association of North America said all of the adults in the minivan emigrated from India to the United States, according to Fox News.

"It’s so hard to take. He’s my half. He’s my half," Rakesh Barri, Rushil Barri’s brother, told WFAA-TV.

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office said in a statement, "Please say a prayer for the families of the deceased and injured. Also, please pray for our Deputies, Troopers, and all other first responders working this accident. It’s a devastating scene and very emotional for all involved."

Law enforcement officials are still investigating the fatal car collision.

New information on deadly Johnson County crash www.youtube.com

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