Yahoo News Parents of 4 Sisters Killed in Limo Crash: It Will Take Months Before the Tragedy 'Really Hits Us'
The parents of the sisters who died in the limo crash that killed 20 people are speaking out about losing four of their seven kids — a tragedy that has not yet sunk in.
Tom King, the sisters’ father, told The New York Times, “It’s going to be down the road, three or four months from now, when it really hits us.”
“You know, your kids go off to college and other places. Sometimes you don’t see them for several months,” Tom added. “Eventually we’ll realize they aren’t coming home.”
On Oct. 6, Amy Steenburg, Abigail Jackson, Mary Dyson and Allison King; their husbands Axel Steenburg, Adam Jackson and Rob Dyson; and Axel’s brother Rich Steenburg were all in the limo that crashed in Schoharie, New York, as the group headed to a birthday party.
The sisters left behind three children. The Jacksons’ daughters — Elle Berra, 16 months, and Archer Mattingly, 4 — will live with Adam’s mother, while the Dysons’ son Isaac, 2, will be with Robert’s mother.
“We love our grandchildren,” Tom said to the newspaper, “but realize we physically can’t care for them full time.”
The Kings want to build a mausoleum in the cemetery, and Linda is holding onto newspaper clippings about the crash for Elle, Archer and Isaac. Linda explained to the Times, “I think they will want to read these stories when they get older.”
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The family was so close that all of the sisters had dropped by their parents’ home in the 24 hours preceding the crash. “[Amy] was famous for a text that would come at about 5 o’clock,” Linda said to the newspaper. “It would say, ‘What’s for dinner?’”
Linda knew that something must be wrong when her daughters, who were bridesmaids at one another’s wedding, were not answering her texts. She said, “Normally, the girls were always sending pictures and things.”
On Oct. 10, 28-year-old Nauman Hussain was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide since authorities claim he knew of a series of issues with the limo., according to New York State Police. He pleaded not guilty. Hussain’s family ran the rental company, Prestige Limo, that owned the limo involved in the crash.
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“The sole responsibility for that motor vehicle being on the road rests with Nauman Hussain,” State Police Superintendent George Beach II told reporters.
