DENVER (KDVR) — An engaged couple, their infant and the man’s parents were all killed in a multi-vehicle crash involving a semitruck as they drove home to Wyoming from Colorado.
The victims had traveled to Colorado to celebrate Aaron Godines’ 20th birthday before the joyous occasion turned deadly, with tragedy striking two families.
High school sweethearts Aaron Godines and his fiancee, 20-year-old Haile Everts, were recently engaged.
Godines, Everts, the couple’s 3-month-old daughter and Godines’ parents, Christina and Emiliano Godines, had celebrated in Denver and were headed back to Wyoming on Monday when they were rear-ended on Interstate 25 near Highway 66.
“She said, ‘I love you mom,’ and I told her, ‘Make sure you text me when you leave Denver,'” Desiree Everts, Haile’s mother, cried. “And she said. ‘OK.'”
Everts never received that text.
The 20-year-old’s mother is now faced with the heart-wrenching task of planning funerals instead of the wedding that she had been awaiting.
Deadly crash involved several vehicles, big rig
Investigators believe a 2015 Ford Edge, a 2013 Ford Focus and a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander were in the left lane of northbound I-25 around 1:30 p.m. and slowed for traffic.
A Kenworth semitruck was also northbound in the left lane when it rear-ended the Ford Edge, which was carrying the family, at an unknown speed, pushing it off the left side of the roadway and into the center median.
The semi rear-ended the Ford Focus, pushing it into the Mitsubishi.
Everts said she found out she’d lost her daughter, granddaughter and future son-in-law in the worst possible way.
She said she saw the video footage from the crash, “and I knew that was their car,” she sobbed.
“I just wanted my baby to be OK,” Everts cried, speaking of her daughter. “I wanted all of them to be OK. She was my firstborn. She was my baby girl.”
Family raising money to bring them home to Wyoming
Everts said Aaron Godines was an amazing father and son-in-law. Her daughter leaves behind two teenage siblings.
The couple’s love was described as “undeniable,” but even more so was the love for their baby girl, Tessleigh.
“She had dimples. She was the perfect baby and the best niece I could ever ask for,” Haile Everts’ 13-year-old sister, Halin, said through sobs.
The Everts and Godines families have verified GoFundMe accounts and are hoping for one thing: “To get them back to Wyoming and laid to rest,” Everts cried. “To have a beautiful funeral to say our goodbyes.”
She said her daughter, her fiance and their baby will be laid to rest together.
The crash is still under investigation. Colorado State Patrol is urging witnesses to come forward with any information.