Family grieving after daughter was killed in crash when her car stalled out on I-96

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Exactly three months after her 21st birthday, Karlesha Watkins’ life tragically ended.

"If you knew my daughter you would love her," said her dad, Robert Watkins.

"It’s like the more we grew up, the closer we got, and the more I understood when my mom told me you only get one sister," said older sister Tra'Shawntay Harris.

It was after 2 a.m. on Wednesday when Karlesha called her dad to tell him she was having car problems. She presumed it was the alternator.

Her grey Hyundai stalled out on the freeway.

"I said I’ll call you when we get halfway there, hung up, bam," Robert said. "(As) soon as I hung up with her, over."

A frantic phone call from a good Samaritan reported there had been an accident.

An SUV had slammed into Karlesha’s car where it had stalled out on I-96 near the exit ramp to Telegraph in Redford.

"We just immediately started screaming, and I went from doing like 60 to 100 on that freeway trying to get down there," said Tra'Shawntay.

Tra’Shawntay and Karlesha’s younger brother Delonte was a passenger in the car — miraculously he wasn’t badly hurt.

Two men who were driving by at the time stopped to help.

"They pulled over, they helped my son they helped my daughter, they pushed the car off the wall," Robert said. "They grabbed my son out of the car. My son was so impacted by the hit, so astounded, that he jumped back in the car, and was just holding my daughter, saying 'Karlesha, come back.'"

There was nothing anyone could do, Karlesha was gone. But the Mumford High School graduate had already made her mark in her short life.

"When she graduated in 2018, she continued to go back all the time, she was a great role model," Robert said.

Police called the fatal crash a tragic accident. The other driver told investigators he did not see Karlesha’s car — until it was too late.

Neither alcohol or drugs were believed to be factors in the crash.

"She’ll be forever 21 - she never got a chance to live her life," said Carla Owens, her grandmother. "But we loved her to death,and we’re going to continue to love her because it doesn’t stop here."

There is a GoFundMe page set up for donations to pay for Karlesha's funeral HERE. 

There is also a fundraiser for the family Saturday, Jan. 29, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the New Bentley Lounge, 19631 Plymouth, in Detroit.