16 Jul 2020
A family is having to face the unthinkable tragedy of losing a second loved one less than two years after losing the first in a hit-and-run crash.
ABC 15 in Phoenix reports that two sisters were killed within 20 months and within a little over two miles from each other.
The fatal crash happened on Tuesday, January 21st just before 10:00 p.m. Stephanie Jones, 34, was attempting to save a dog that had been injured near the intersection of Bethany Home Road and 35th Avenue when she was struck and killed by two vehicles. Both drivers stayed at the scene. Police investigators say that neither driver was impaired at the time.
Kristin Guerrero, sister to Lori and Stephanie, wonders if driver distraction may have been the cause of the accident.
Stephanie Jones was the eldest of three daughters and had three of her own children when little sister, Lori Gates, was hit by a hit-and-run driver. Lori had a three-year-old daughter and was also four months pregnant at the time of her death.
The girls’ mother, Vicki Jones, was still grieving for her youngest daughter Lori when this latest tragedy struck. “You’re not supposed to bury your kids. They’re supposed to bury you,” she said in 2018. Family members say that Vicki is now inconsolable.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the family pay for Stephanie’s funeral expenses and the children that she leaves behind.