LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — A Lafayette family is grieving the loss of a child after she and a friend were killed in a car accident just miles away from the friend’s home in Prairieville.
A single-vehicle crash on Sunday, June 19 on La. 427 near Bayou Manchac in Ascension Parish claimed the lives of Caroline Smith and Chloe Hamilton, both 16. Smith was from Prairieville, while Hamilton was from Lafayette.
The families are holding a candlelight vigil for both teenagers in Lafayette on Thursday, June 23 at 6 p.m.
Hamilton’s mother, Stephanie Ferris, said her daughter traveled regularly to Prairieville to see Smith and other family friends. Hamilton had just started her first job, and she regularly traveled to see Smith to get her hair braided.
“Going there was a normal part of our lives,” said Ferris.
After hours of hair braiding, the two girls left to get something to eat. Sadly, the two teenagers never came back home. Both mothers got suspicious about where their daughters were. Ferris said she became even more worried when Hamilton did not answer her phone, which was not like her.
Hours later, law enforcement arrived at the home: “There was an accident and no one had survived,” said Farris.
Reports from Louisiana State Police reveal both teenagers died after their vehicle went into a pond, which was the last thing both mothers saw coming.
“God wouldn’t do this to both of us,” said Ferris. “Why would we go through this at the same time? One has to be stronger than the other, so why would we go through it at the same time? It can’t be real.”
On top of this, Ferris said one of Chloe’s friends had just passed away a few weeks ago. Farris says her daughter struggled to understand how so many people her age were dying so soon. Stephanie says she now knows what that pain feels like.
“I heard Chloe speak about it but now I’m in the same predicament.”