Families honor 2 teen best friends killed in crash on 710 Freeway in Long Beach
The mother of the teen girl said she went to sleep thinking her daughter was in the next room: "I woke up and she was gone."
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- An emotional vigil was held Wednesday night for two 15-year-olds who died in a horrific car crash on the 710 Freeway in Long Beach.
The solo-car crash captured on dashcam happened just after 4 a.m. Monday. Witnesses say the driver was speeding when the car slammed into a barrier. Investigators say some of the victims were thrown from the car because they may not have been wearing seatbelts.
Ariahh Slemaker and her best friend George Dobbs died in the crash that killed three others. A sixth person in the car suffered critical injuries.
"My daughter was funny, loving, caring, outgoing and she had a whole life ahead of her," Ariahh's mother Amanda Lopez said. "It's sad that it was cut short."
Lopez described the last time she saw her daughter alive, which was just hours before the crash.
"She came in the room because we just got her a kitty and she's like, 'Mom, I want my kitty,'" the mother recalled. "She came in, I told her, 'I am going to go to sleep.' She was like, 'Ok. I love you,' and she went in her room."
Lopez sent a message to parents, urging them to keep their children close.
"Just make sure your child, your children, are in their bed," she said. "I work. I went to sleep thinking that she was in the next room, and I woke up and she was gone."
Loved ones of George Dobbs said he and Ariahh were best friends.
Families hope GoFundMe accounts for Ariahh and George will help pay for a dignified memorial.
As detectives investigate what led up the crash, Ariahh's relatives say other families should see the heartbreaking moment as a wake-up call.
"Check on your babies, and kids, listen to your parents because things like this happen," said Ariahh's uncle William Pearson.
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