BALDWIN, Fla. – A 16-year-old girl from Jacksonville was killed Tuesday night when her car crossed the median on I-10 and drove into the path of an oncoming pickup and semitruck in Baldwin.
Autumn Branham's family was mourning her death Wednesday and trying to figure out why the teen was on I-10.
Chauna Branham, Autumn's mother, said her daughter was happy and had plans to own her own business. She finished her GED at 15 and worked at a KFC for a while before leaving to finish her cosmetology training at Aveda as a full-time student. She would have finished before her 18th birthday.
“We are all just confused why this would happen to someone that was so good,” Chauna Branham said. “She had the biggest dreams. She worked hard to achieve all of her goals, and I know she would have been the best.”
Autumn's classmates said she was a natural talent.
"She could always make anyone smile if anyone didn't have a smile on their face," Megan Coursey said. "She was such a good-hearted person, and her personality would come out in the room. She could always make someone laugh or smile if they were having a bad day."
Katie Wooleyham said Autumn was dropping off a gift Monday -- the last time she saw her friend.
"She was literally always positive, even though she had a lot going on that no one would know about," Wooleyham said.
The cosmetology school is hosting a fundraiser to help Autumn's family. The cut and style makeover day will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 31 at Mandarin Landing, 10601 San Jose Blvd. in Jacksonville.
Branham said Autumn, her youngest child, loved everyone and everyone loved her.
“Even if she didn’t know you and she met you on the street, she was genuine,” Chauna Branham said. "She loved everyone. It didn’t matter their color, their sex, nothing mattered to her. She brought people home all the time who needed a place to stay. She would eat half a meal and give it to the homeless."
Chauna Branham said that her daughter's tissue will be donated. The teen always told her mother that if anything happened to her, she wanted the family to donate everything they could so someone else could live.
"She was the strongest woman I knew,” Branham said. “She used to always say I was her rock. She was mine.”
Autumn's family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with the cost of her burial. She did not have life insurance.
Her family plans to celebrate Autumn's life at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Hardage Giddens funeral home on San Jose Boulevard.
Deadly crash at US 301
The fatal crash was reported just before 10 p.m. at U.S. 301 in Baldwin.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report, Autumn was driving west in a 2002 Honda Civic when for unknown reasons, the car left the roadway and crossed the grass median.
She drove into the path of a Ford 350 pickup truck and the collision knocked her car into the path of a semitruck towing a car hauler.
Autumn died at the scene. Chauna Branham said she learned there was a woman at the scene of the crash, and she wants to thank that woman for staying with her daughter.
The driver of the Ford pickup was identified as 61-year-old Thomas Kelly of Jacksonville. He was taken to UF Health with serious injuries.
The driver of the semitruck was 42-year-old Brian Fayson of Augusta, Georgia. He was not hurt.
All lanes of eastbound Interstate 10 were shut down for nearly five hours, according to troopers.
FHP continues to investigate.