Off The Record

9-Year-Old Girl And Baby Brother Killed In A Car Crash, Then Parents Find Heartbreaking Note Daughter Left To Herself

Published on April 5, 2024

In 2017, Linda Irie, 50, was driving on the Turner Turnpike near Wellston, Oklahoma, with her three grandchildren: Jace, 5, Brooklynn, 9, Newville; and Isabella Anthony, 6, a cousin of the grandchildren. They were going to get a baby lamb for Easter pictures.

Local news said that a 17-year-old driver hit the Norman family from behind, causing Irie’s car to crash into two other cars.

The family was told that there was proof that the driver was reading a text message at the time of the accident.

Isabella was the only one who made it out alive. The police said the other three were dead at the scene.

“We’ve had to move a couple times, can’t really walk into the house anymore, see where the kids used to be,” said Brian Newville, the father Brooklynn and Jace.

Shaneé, their mother, wrote an emotional post on Facebook: “Being alive is hard. I wake up and cry, take a shower and cry, put on my make up and cry.” The photographer, who also lost her mom in the crash, continues, “The people who loved me the most are gone. It feels like god took them on vacation with Mima. But it isn’t the truth, they are never coming back.”

List of wishes

After many months, when Brooklynn’s parents were cleaning out her room, they found something that helped ease some of their unbearable pain.

Brooklynn wrote down by hand a long list of things she wanted to see or do before she died.

The girl’s long list of things she wants to do includes scuba diving, seeing a moose, getting a drone, going to an ice bar in Alaska, and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge.

“She always wanted to go hunting with me,” Brian sobs. “Never got a chance to.”

At the time, Brookie’s parents said they would complete all of her dreams, no matter how long it takes. There are no new posts on social media about them checking off things on her bucket list.

Distracted driving

Noah DeDear, from Durango, Colorado, was charged with three counts of manslaughter in 2018 because he was blamed for the crash that killed Irie and her two grandkids.

At the time of the crash, DeDear was only a few days away from turning 18. He is now being tried as an adult.

According to the police report, DeDear admitted to sending a text message right before the crash but denied reading two messages from his grandma and girlfriend.Fr

In 2019, Brian told News 4 that the courts’ delays were making him mad and that it “doesn’t make any sense. Why somebody can kill three innocent lives, two children and a grandmother, and still be allowed to walk free, while the family is sitting here in pain, agony, wanting closure and we can’t get it.”

In February 2021, the family wrote on Facebook that the jury picking process had finally begun.

‘Put it Down’

And at the same time, the parents are pleading with everyone to put down their phones.

“We are putting out our campaign, Put it Down, so people will put their phones down,” Brian says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your phone, or food, it’s anything in the car, while you’re driving: Put it down.”

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