After a deadly wrong-way crash, grieving family members are speaking out about the loved ones lost.
On Friday night, around 10:30 p.m., a wrong-way driver caused a head-on collision near milepost 123 on the US-60 near Morristown.
Family members have identified Akayla Cuthbertson, 23, her best friend Jessica Harris, 25, Shirley House, 73, and a teenage boy as the four people killed by the wrong-way driver.
The wrong-way driver also died in the collision and the family members told ABC15 that the driver was alone in the car.
Family tells me Jessica’s relative, Shirley House, was also inside the car along with a teenager and say all four of them in one car were killed. #abc15 pic.twitter.com/7n2n8eTkRg
— Megan Thompson (@MeganABC15) April 5, 2021
"The state troopers came knocking at our door," said Christine Przytula, Harris' cousin and roommate. "[They said] 'I regret to inform you but there’s been an accident.'”
"If I knew this was going to happen I would have done anything," she said.
Cuthbertson and Harris were driving home to Kingman after making a trip to pick up their teen relative and House, who was visiting her daughter in the West Valley. The four were killed about an hour into their drive home.
Harris and Cuthbertson were best friends, and Cuthbertson's mom said both were studying to become full-time therapists. Cuthbertson was also a cake designer.
"Her smile, she just has this smile that you knew she was your friend, when she loved you, you knew it," said Peggy Dorris, Cuthbertson's mom. "She just loved so deeply and strong that you knew you were loved."
Przytula said the last time Harris drove to Kingman from Phoenix, she had a close encounter with a wrong-way driver but was able to swerve out of the way.
"She was like ‘I almost died,'" said Przytula about the time Harris was nearly hit by another driver. "She was like, 'I was able to get out the way, I was able to get out of the way at the last minute.'"
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials have not released any information about the cause of the crash.
