KINGSLAND, Ga. – Four people, including a 3-year-old girl, were killed Tuesday afternoon in a violent multi-car crash on Highway 40 in Kingsland, Georgia, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
According to Georgia State Patrol, an investigation found that a Nissan Maxima was driving erratically and in excess of the posted speed limit on Highway 40 before it crossed over the concrete median divider.
The Nissan then struck the front of a Ford F-250 that was traveling east, according to GSP.
Only one passenger in the Nissan, the 3-year-old girl, was restrained, according to GSP. The child along with three adult passengers died in the crash. A 9-year-old boy in the car was ejected into the windshield and was in critical condition as of Wednesday morning, according to GSP.
The Camden County Coroner’s Office confirmed to News4Jax that Jeremy Gelsey, 25, Rose Downhour, 33, and Christopher Chambley, 31, were the three adults who died in the crash.
GSP said Rose Downhour was driving the car at the time of the crash.
The 3-year-old girl who died, Neveah, and the 9-year-old boy, Joe, who was injured in the crash were Downhour’s children, family told News4Jax.
“It’s very hard right now. I lost my daughter, my grandbaby, my grandchild is in the hospital,” said Kathy Barker, Downhour’s mother. “It breaks my heart that she didn’t put a seatbelt on him or put Neveah in her car seat."
Barker asked people not to judge Downhour for not putting the car seat in.
“Rose was a good girl. She loved her kids dearly,” Barker said. "Just pray for these grandkids. They need their mother bad. Now it’s up for us to raise them.”
Baker started a Go Fund Me page to help cover funeral costs.
The family of Chambley is also heartbroken.
“He was my only brother," Chambley’s sister Heather Chunn told News4Jax. "We lost our parents so each other was all we had. I’m in complete shock.”
The driver of the Ford F-250 suffered minor injuries after the truck rolled on its roof.
Drivers were asked to avoid the area of Highway 40 and Mariners Landing because both eastbound and westbound lanes were shut down for hours.