JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- Three people are dead and six others are hurt after a two vehicle crash and fire in Baker County on New Years Day.
It happened at approximately 1:30 a.m. on U.S. 90 near Battle Field Trial, which is outside Sanderson by the Olustee Battlefied Historic State Park.
An investigator with Florida Highway Patrol said on the scene the victims include two teenagers from Jacksonville and one adult from Lake City.
The investigator stated 17-year-old Benjamin David Schafer and 17-year-old Jessica Lynn Perry were alone in an Acura traveling east on U.S. 90 when they collided head on with an SUV traveling west, carrying a family of seven.
Perry was a Jacksonville high school student and her family sat down with First Coast News to remember their beloved, Jessica.
Brittany Otto is Perry's oldest sister.
"I am missing a piece of me and I am searching and it's gone. I don't know where it's at. I can't find it," said Otto.
Otto says her sister was coming home from a church event on the night of the crash.
"A piece of my heart is missing because she was there for us and now we don't have her no more," said Otto.
Matthew Perry is the teen's father. He says he passed the crash on New Years Day.
"I actually seen the wreck that morning and I woke up and told [my wife] about the wreck and then my daughter told me it was Jessica," said Perry. "I couldn't believe it. I was hoping it was just a bad dream."
As did Jessica's younger sister, Megan.
"She made me feel normal because I have tourette syndrome and I was bullied my whole life and she's the one who helped me get through everything," said Megan.
Now, Jessica's family is preparing to bury the teenager. A young girl who loved the color green, with dreams of becoming a veterinarian.
The Perry family has set up a gofundme page so they can afford a proper burial.
The Town family also has a donation page: Give Forward.
"You are not supposed to bury your children...you are not," said Jessica's father, Matthew.
Matthew and his wife are pregnant and it is a girl. They have decided to name their child Ava Lynn, so both the baby and Jessica share the same middle name.
"I will always love you and I will always miss you and when I need you, I just know to pray," said Otto.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the Acura passed other traffic on U.S. 90 but failed to return to the eastbound travel lane.
Ambulances from Baker and Columbia Counties assisted with transporting them to the hospital. He said three helicopters were also needed.
Marfongella said this crash was his second mass casualty event on this particular stretch of road since he joined the department 18 months ago.
