Hailey and Shelby Trumble died as a result of an accident in upstate New York. Their father, Brian, learned the news after using the Find Friends app and ending up at the scene of the accident.
The father of two teenagers killed in a car crash in upstate New York last week said he learned of the tragedy by tracking the location of their phones.
Hailey Trumble, 19, and Shelby Trumble, 17, died from injuries sustained in the accident Thursday evening in Ira, a small town outside Syracuse, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
According to police, Hailey was driving a Chevy Cobalt eastbound when it went over a hilltop, crossed into the oncoming lane and collided with another vehicle traveling westbound. The driver of the other vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, was hospitalized with serious injuries and is in stable condition, the sheriff’s office said.
The teen’s father, Brian Trumble, told Syracuse.com that the girls were on their way home from Seabreeze Amusement Park in Irondequoit when the fatal accident occurred just 3 miles from their Granby home.
“It’s a huge loss,” he told the outlet. “It will never be the same again.”
Father said he used the app “Find My Friends”
Trumble said he was concerned the night of the accident when none of his daughters answered his numerous texts and calls, the outlet reported.
He decided to use Apple’s “Find My” app to track the locations of their iPhones and drove to the scene of the accident, the newspaper reported. When he arrived, officials had already blocked off the streets and he received the worst news of his life.
“An officer asked me what I was doing and what I was looking for,” Brian told Syracuse.com. “I told him I was looking for my daughters.”
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Mother says the girls were “so full of life”
Trumble and his wife, Tina Trumble, described their daughters as simple country girls who were interested in animals, arts and crafts, camping and fishing, according to Syracuse.com. The sisters often painted each other’s nails or watched shows like “Gilmore Girls” and “Heartland.”
Shelby graduated from high school in June and Hailey graduated last year, the newspaper reported. Shelby worked at Reeves Farm Stand in Baldwinsville, while Hailey was scheduled to start a new job at the daycare on Monday, Brian Trumble said.
“They were everything you could want,” Tina Trumble told the outlet. “So full of life. They were loved and so beautiful.”
A GoFundMe page had raised nearly $40,000 as of Tuesday to help cover the Trumble family’s funeral expenses during a “time of unimaginable loss and hardship.” Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 10.
