Four Year Old Pulls Two Year Old Sister From Wrecked Car
Jessica Marie (Rath) Huff killed in a single car accident early Wednesday morning on Washington SR 104 near Naselle, Washington. Photo from Facebook “public” setting.
Washington State police report that motorists came across a horrific scene early Wednesday morning. Kraai McClure and Scott Beautler were driving by a spot on Washington State Route 401 when they stopped to check out a gashed tree trunk. They found two small children wrapped in a blanket out in the rain. The little girl asked for help with her mother, who she indicated was still in the car. McClure and Beautler said they found a dead woman in the car, which had crashed headfirst into the tree.
Accident site where four year old rescued her two year old sister from the totaled vehicle. Their mother died when the car crashed head on into a tree.
Washington troopers said an Astoria woman, identified as Jessica Marie (Rath) Huff, 26, was driving along the Washington coastline to pick up her fisherman husband, Keaton Huff, from a fishing vessel, believed to be the Calamari, in Long Beach, Washington. Investigators said that at some point on the drive Jessica learned that Keaton would be arriving at the Port of Portland and not in Long Beach. The last phone contact between husband and wife consisted of him telling her not to worry about picking him up and she should head back to their home in Astoria. However, she informed Keaton she was “Ok to drive to Portland.”
Police Investigators said that conversation took place around midnight. Sometime after that, troopers believe Jessica fell asleep behind the wheel, traveled off SR-401 near Naselle and slammed head-on into a tree and died at the scene.
The Huff’s 2-year-old daughter was severely injured in the crash. Police said the 4-year-old girl dragged her sister out of the car, along with a blanket, and hunkered down in nearby brush, remaining there for hours until the motorists noticed the damaged trees and stopped to check out what had happened. At around 8 AM, McClure and Beautler discovered the crash scene and the injured children and immediately went for help.
The girls were taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria and were later flown to Oregon Health & Sciences University for further treatment. Troopers said their father is with the girls at the hospital.
Two year old, Lylah Huff was rescued from wrecked car by her four year old sister, Arianna Rath, after mother died in the accident. Photo from Facebook “public” setting.
Keaton Huff, with his daughters. Lylah Huff remains in critical condition at OHSU, after being pulled from the car accident that killed their mother, by her four year old sister, Arianna Rath. Photo from Facebook “public” setting.
The 2-year-old girl has been identified as Lylah Huff. Arianna Rath, her 4-year-old half-sister, was released from the hospital Wednesday night.
Washington State Patrol continues to investigate the crash.
Update, 2/21/2013, 5:56 PM: According to a friend of the family, Arianna Rath was not released from the hospital Wednesday night. Both girls remain hospitalized but their health is improving. One of the girl’s health has been upgraded and their ward has changed but it was not clear which one.
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8 Responses to Four Year Old Pulls Two Year Old Sister From Wrecked Car
Watch the Daily A crucify this sweet mother, 26 years old, because of circumstances she was working hard to overcome. I hope to see a public outpouring of sympathy and support for this young woman’s little girls…and an outcry of FOUL PLAY toward our local paper! This young woman was working through so much at such a young age…and making so much progress. Why not report from this angle and give those girls a chance to remember their mother in this way for the wonderful mother they knew and loved?
As a member of our extended family is a close relation of hers, I called the ‘A’ this morning to ask a personal friend to put in a plug to omit mention of old police records from today’s headline article in her family’s interest and the editorial department refused the request. I told my friend that this is exactly why so many of us just REFUSE to subscribe to this FISH WRAP because they are so totally insensitive to the idea of ‘community’ in a small town like ours, and are only interested in posturing themselves to impress the largesse ‘media’ players. I really hope to see his numbers drop even further as a result of this public display of your poor judgement.
I could not agree more. Thankyou for saying exactly what I was thinking!
Sorry, my comment was taken from FB post and was originally addressed to Mr. Forrester, Carrie, not NCO!! It needed more editing, I see now. His pub IS a fishwrap. Thanks so much for all the hard work you do in providing us with an alternative!
Thank you for such a factual and straight story, Carrie. Yesterday when these girls came into the hospital and we learned that their mother had been killed, it devastated many of us. One of the risks of working there, I guess. I was, as always, amazed with the speed at which the girls were treated and life-flighted. I hadn’t read the Daily A story yet, but heard that they focused on dragging the mom through the mud; I was thoroughly disgusted.
Thank you for being an ethical media outlet. The Daily As. really needs to change hands and print something worth reading or just be shut down. I was heart sick when I read their account of the accident. They did nothing but slander a young woman whose children will have only news reports to look back on. Pathetic!
NCO is Stellar!
When the information becomes available can someone please post where donations for the family can be sent? I’m so crushed by what these poor girls and their father must be going through.
(NCO NOTE: See http://www.northcoastoregon.com/?p=4518. The Rath Huff Benefit Fund has been established. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo branch.)
Jessica’s family would like help spreading the word that there has been an account opened at Wells Fargo under Rath-Huff Medical for any one who’d like to help out with their medical expenses. The girls are both out of ICU now…please keep their dad and Jess’s dad especially in prayer. Tough stuff for the whole family. Thank you! I wish I knew how to upload their lovely portraits that I was able to share with this request on FaceBook…Carrie?
This is the way the original story should have read thank you carrie!…daily A should be ashamed of them selfs. This is why i dont read that papper. Now when those girls get old and look at those clippings they will be reminded of how horrible this story was botched..prayers of peace and gods love to the family and friends.