Police: 14-year-old killed when driver evading cops crashed

Police suspect Mustang's driver was street racing, trying to elude officer

GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. – A teenage girl's family, school and community is mourning her after she lost her life last week when a speeding car crashed into a fence post in western Glynn County.

Kylie Burgess, 14, was killed and two boys were injured when a car that had eluded police left Williamson Avenue on a curve, crashed and overturned, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

The accident report released this week shows Glynn County police were pursuing a Dodge Charger and Ford Mustang racing at speeds clocked up to 104 mph about 2:30 a.m. May 12 on Highway 82, but the officer stopped when the Charger pulled over on Ratcliff Road.

As the original officer awaited backup, the driver of the Mustang walked up “out of breath and extremely scared," telling the officer that he had crashed, according to the initial Glynn County police report obtained by Brunswick News.

Police found the car lying on its side with Burgess, of Hortense, dead and 17-year-old Armen Jordan, of Waycross, trapped inside.

Kylie's grandmother, Dianne Stevenson, said her granddaughter had lived with her most of her life.

Police knocked on Stevenson's door at 3 a.m. on Mother's Day.

"He said, 'Would you go back and check to see if Kylie is in her bed?'" she said. "I went back and looked and she wasn’t there and I come out and I told him, 'Please don’t tell me something terrible has happened.'" 

Stevenson said she was baking pies the night before this incident happened. She said her granddaughter came out to check on her and tell her goodnight four times. 

"I think she waited until she made sure I was asleep (and) just eased out," Stevenson said. "I couldn’t even cry. I couldn’t believe it. I just didn’t believe she would sneak out and do something like this."

Jordan was cut from the car by paramedics and flown by air ambulance to UF Health in Jacksonville. The driver, Austin Moore, 17, of Blackshear, was taken to Southeast Georgia Health System’s Brunswick hospital for evaluation. He has been charged with reckless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and homicide by vehicle. 

Moore is being held without bond at the Glynn County detention center, according to Glynn County police. 

Authorities said the driver was wearing a seat belt, but the two passengers were not.

Kylie, an eighth-grade honor student at Brantley Middle School, was remembered at a funeral at her church in Waycross and buried last Thursday.

Kylie wanted to become a cosmetologist and she loved makeup. 

"Heaven gained a beautiful new angel and we lost more than words can ever express," a spokesperson for the family posted on a GoFundMe page asking for funds to help pay for funeral costs.

"Her smile would light up the school! She will truly be missed by all of us here," the school posted on its Facebook page. "We send our most sincere condolences to Kylie's family and friends. Please keep Kylie's family, friends, teachers, and school in your thoughts and prayers during this time."

Stevenson said Kylie's last day of school would have been this Friday and they had planned a family trip to Florida and Bush Gardens on Saturday.