Dakota Miller Idaho teen girl falls asleep at the wheel causing a family of four to die in Riggins car crash during road trip. The mother of two young victims, Zella Blair is left devastated as she tries to make sense of the loss.
’Nothing will ever be the same.’ An Idaho teenager fell asleep at the wheel, causing her to drive off a cliff and into a river, resulting in the deaths of herself, her father and her two siblings, according to police.
Divorced dad Calvin ‘CJ’ Miller, 36, was taking his three kids – Dakota, 17, Jack, 10, and Delilah, 8 – to see their grandfather in hospice care on Saturday when their vehicle plummeted 30 feet into the Salmon River north of the city of Riggins.
Police confirmed Wednesday the tragic accident was likely caused by Dakota Miller falling asleep behind the wheel due to fatigue from the family’s 274 mile trip from their home in Spokane, Washington, to Council, Idaho.
‘I just want my kids back’
‘Dakota drove off the highway, striking a large pile of rocks, sending the vehicle airborne,’ the incident report reads.
‘The vehicle struck another large pile of rocks, flipping the vehicle over end and landing upside down in the Salmon River.’
Water filled the vehicle after it flew 30 feet from the highway, causing the family to drown, USA Today reported citing authorities.
An angler found their bodies inside the vehicle on June 10 in the Salmon River by milepost 199, north of Riggins, authorities said.
The mother of two youngest children killed, Zella Blair, was not on the road trip, Fox 28 reported.
‘I just dropped to my knees … I just started crying,’ Blair, the mother of Jack and Delilah Miller, told KREM. ‘I just couldn’t believe it.’
Year over year increase in fatal car crashes
‘I would give up anything for the rest of my life just to have them here with me,’ Blair added. ‘I just want my kids back.’
Blair said she had dropped her two children off with their father, who had plans to take the pair and his oldest daughter to see his grandfather. But the family crashed before making it.
‘Nothing will ever be the same,’ Blair told FOX28. ‘I just want my kids back.’
CJ Miller left behind his ‘soon-to-be fiancee,’ and her step-father talked to KHQ-TV about losing the family.
‘They were just the best kids,’ Scott Henri told the news outlet. ‘They were just too good, too good for this place.’
The latest available Idaho government figures said there were 244 fatal car crashes in 2021. It added 271 people were killed in those crashes.
The Idaho government added: ‘The total number of traffic crashes in 2021 increased by 22 percent from 2020. Fatal crashes increased by 30 percent while injury crashes increased by 9 percent.’
It remained unclear what steps and measures, if any, Idaho state planned to take to mitigate car fatalities.
