Baleigh Bowlin and Chloe Taylor Jackson County, Mississippi teen girls killed in car crash while driving along highway after attending homecoming dance. Cause of crash under investigation.
‘Glued to the hip….’ Two teenager best friends were killed after their car crashing along a highway as they were driving home from a homecoming dance in Mississippi in the morning hours over the weekend.
The two teens were found dead Sunday, hours after their car flipping after family members sought to find out what had happened to the missing teen girls.
Baleigh Bowlin and Chloe Taylor, both 16, went missing following East Central’s homecoming on Saturday night.
The pair were later discovered by family and friends who raised the alarm after the two teen girls failed to return. One of the girls’ uncles found the vehicle they were traveling in overturned in woods off the side of the road in thick brush.
The car was found just a few miles from their home. It was unable to be seen from the highway. It is thought that the car had flipped several times before coming to a stop. It remained unclear what caused the automobile to flip and whether speed or drinking may have been a factor. The girls were found still buckled into their seats.
What caused crash?
Authorities said the teens were involved in a single-car crash at the intersection of Highway 613 and Lum Reeves Road, WLOX reported.
Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. pronounced both teens dead at the scene just after 5pm Sunday.
They both died of blunt force trauma. The car flipped into the woods and couldn’t be seen from the roadway, Lynd said.
Officials determined the car left the road and crashed into an embankment and a tree.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation.
Taylor and Bowlin were last seen at a Waffle House together with other students around 5:30am on Sunday morning, NBC 15 reported.
‘I’m the one that found my Niece Chloe Taylor & Baleigh Bowlin yesterday!!! I’m the one that walked into the woods to discover their fate!!!’ uncle Robbie Taylor posted on his Facebook page.
‘Glued to the hip’
‘I’m the one that was onside of the road begging & pleading for cars to stop because of what I just saw had me shaken up so bad that I couldn’t even talk!!! WHY ME GOD? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME THAT FOUND THEM?’ he wrote.
‘They were best friends,’ Chloe Taylor’s mother, Natalie Mann-Taylor told the Sun Herald. ‘Glued to the hip. They loved each other and were always there for one another Baleigh and Chloe were the definitions of high-quality friends. They both are flying and will always be in our hearts.’
‘My heart., my world, my best friend was taken from me yesterday,’ Mann-Taylor wrote in a Facebook post. ‘It doesn’t seem real. I’m praying I wake up from this nightmare and she walks through those doors. Why was my baby taken from me? Why her? I never expected as a parent I would have to go through this much heartache.’
‘Please be in prayer today as we mourn the loss of two students. Please pray for guidance as we navigate these tragedies with our students, faculty, and community,’ East Central High School, where Taylor and Bowlin were juniors, wrote on its Facebook.
East Central High Principal Jim Hughey said extra school counselors and youth pastors were at the school gym Monday morning to offer support for any students who needed help.
‘They were outstanding students,’ Hughey said of Baleigh and Chloe. ‘Our community is going to be mourning the loss of them for a while.’
‘I just notice a numbness right now, and it’s hard to describe. It may be part of my perception as how I’m feeling as well, but I’m observing very closely what’s happening on campus,’ superintendent John Strycker said.
Mississippi Highway Patrol is handling the investigation with toxicology tests to be performed on the two teens in the coming days.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for funeral expenses.
