FORT MYERS SHORES, Fla. -- There's a 16-year-old Southwest Florida girl that won't see her high school graduation day next year. She won't see her birthday in four months. She didn't even get to see the end of Christmas Day.
"Just because someone wanted to arrive five minutes sooner, my kid's not coming home," Martin Santiago said.
Destiny Franz was riding with her grandmother, 56-year-old Judy Mounts, on Christmas night. Florida Highway Patrol says an unidentified person was driving westbound on State Road 70 between Lake Placid and Okeechobee when he tried to pass another car while traveling on a curve.
The two cars collided head-on.
Troopers say one car flipped over into a ditch and caught on fire, killing the driver and female passenger. They have not been identified yet.
Inside the other was Destiny and Judy; the daughter and mother of Jerri Mitchell.
"She didn't get to live her life. She got short(ed). Because somebody was in a hurry," Mitchell said.
Jerri described her daughter as outgoing, loving and family-oriented. She says her daughter and her grandmother were best friends.
Now, the parents want to remind drivers to take their time. Mitchell warned "slow down, slow down because that costs lives."
Friends of the family have setup a Go Fund Me Page to help raise money for the family for funeral expenses.
Click on this link to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/tragedy-accident-on-christmas-day
