A New York father made a heartbreaking discovery when he tracked his two teenage daughters’ phones when they became unresponsive on Thursday.
Brian Trumble told Syracuse.com He texted his daughters, Hailey, 19, and Shelby, 17, several times when they didn’t come home from Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester that night.
He then decided to use the Find My Friends app to track down their whereabouts on his phone and drove a few miles to the location the app indicated.
There he discovered that his two teenage daughters had been killed in a fatal accident, and Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputies were already cordoning off the area.
“A cop asked me what I was doing, what I was looking for,” Brian said. “I told him I was looking for my daughters.”
Shelby, 17, and Hailey, 19, Trumble died in a crash on Thursday
The teens were driving a Chevy Cobalt eastbound on Ira Hill Road when their car “went over a hill and into the opposite lane, striking a second vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said Monday.
‘Hailey and Shelby Trumble both died from injuries they sustained in the crash.’
The other driver, identified as 59-year-old Robin Latham, was taken to Syracuse University Hospital with serious injuries and remains in stable condition.
The cause of the fatal accident is still unclear. The cause is still being investigated. In the meantime, a memorial has been erected for the sisters along the road.
“It’s way too early to say exactly what happened, what caused the crash and what factors played into it,” said Sheriff Brian Schneck. told CNY Central.
“But we’re investigating every piece of evidence we can find.”
He added that authorities have found no evidence that either driver was drunk at the time of the accident.
The girls recently graduated from high school, Hailey in 2023 and Shelby in 2024 – completing an Oswego BOCES Cosmetology program
The two teenagers were pronounced dead at the scene
The girls had recently graduated from high school, Hailey in 2023 and Shelby in 2024, completing a BOCES cosmetology degree in Oswego.
“It’s a huge loss,” the girls’ father said. “It will never be the same.”
He and the girls’ mother, Tina, described their daughters as simple country girls who loved animals and the outdoors.
Their love for animals began at a young age, when they cared for cows and pigs on their grandparents’ farm.
The family also had cats and dogs and once even adopted a pet raccoon, Tina said.
As teenagers, the close-knit sisters would also go to a pasture near their home to watch horses, always bringing along carrots and apples to feed the horses, she said.
The sisters were also volunteers with the CNY Cat Coalition and had just rescued two kittens, Smokey and Bandit, who had been thrown out of a car window shortly before their deaths.
Hailey’s cat had to be amputated and she expected to see that after their trip to Seabreeze on Thursday, but they never made it home.
The girls’ parents, Brian and Tina Trumble, said the sisters were very close and often painted each other’s nails and watched Gilmore Girls and Heartland together.
The cause of the fatal collision is still unclear and an investigation is ongoing
Brian says he now takes comfort in the fact that the two girls were together when they died.
‘One thing I took away from all of this [is] “That gives me some kind of peace — it makes me happy that they were together,” he told Syracuse.com.
The sisters were very close, their parents said, often painting each other’s nails and watching Gilmore Girls and Heartland together.
They also enjoyed fishing. For example, Tina says that when Shelby was in elementary school, she would often get off the bus and run straight to the pond.
“She ran down a dirt road to the pond that was behind the house, in the middle of a cornfield, and went fishing every day,” she said, adding that they also took her older brother, Riley, with them.
“They could never go fishing without a bunch of snacks,” Tina said. “Riley would come pick them up and they would always run to Walmart first.”
The parents described their daughters as simple country girls who enjoyed fishing with their older brother Riley when they were growing up (pictured)
The sisters were also described as caring, never wanting to exclude anyone from their activities and always making sure to treat others with kindness and respect.
They also always visited their father when things were difficult, their parents said.
But they also loved to tease and bully their father, Brian said, while Tina added that Shelby was a very funny and honest child.
“You didn’t have to wonder where you stood with Shelby, she told you herself,” Tina said.
She said losing her daughters is the hardest thing she will ever experience.
“They were everything you wanted to be. So full of life,” Tina said.
“They were loved and so beautiful.”
A funeral service is planned for Saturday and the family is now to collect money to pay for the funeral expenses.
“In this devastating incident, the Trumble family lost two girls at once, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces,” the GoFundMe states.
“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness, love and support during this heartbreaking time.”
By Tuesday evening, the fundraiser had far exceeded its goal of $10,000, reaching more than $38,000.
