almost paranormal, 2 teen girls died 10 years apart traffic accident Ashley Waddell

Odessa family left with questions and in disbelief after teenage girl dies in crash
Posted 7:07 pm, November 25, 2016, by Shannon O'Brien

ODESSA, Mo. -- A 16-year-old Odessa girl is the latest  metro teen to die in an auto accident. The most recent fatality happened on Johnson Drive, a gravel road on the outskirts of Odessa.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ashley Waddell came close to running off of the country road, overcorrected, lost control, ran up an embankment and was thrown from the SUV when it flipped over.

“She always wore her seat belt and she didn’t. Why? I don’t understand,” said Ashley’s sister, Erica Waddell.

That question is among many the family is left wondering about after Missouri State Highway Patrol officers and Lafayette County sheriff’s deputies showed up at the store where Erica and her mother, Shelley Waddell, work.

"I was like, it's Ashley, isn't it?" said Shelley. "We couldn't understand, we didn't believe it, just too surreal," the mother said through her tears.

Ashley’s family says everyone liked her, describing her as friendly, loving and selfless. The teenager was proud that she recently got an award for academic excellence. The family is still recovering from another tragedy.

"I lost my husband almost four years ago for cancer and now I lost my baby girl, it's just not fair,” said Shelley.

The thought that her baby is now with her dad does bring some comfort to the family, trying to remember the happy days they had. Erica sang a song the sisters played over and over on a road trip, and talked about their frequent fights over clothes. Just last week, Ashley got caught by a family friend wearing her sister’s green dress to school without permission.

"So when she gets home from school, Woody was like I am going to need you to take that dress off to prevent World War III,” said Erica, “and she says, 'I'm not worried about my sister.'"

Now the sister is not worried about the dress. In fact, Erica is giving it to her sister forever; it is the dress Ashley will be buried in.

Erica laughed as she imagined what her sister would say,

“I think she would get the last laugh, like ha, I got your dress.”

http://www.kmzu.com/teen-driver-killed-north-of-odessa/ wrote:
ODESSA, Mo – A single vehicle crash resulted in the death of an Odessa teen Wednesday afternoon, November 23.

According to a crash report, the vehicle overturned off the roadway just north of Odessa at southbound Johnson Drive.  The driver, Ashley Waddell, 16, was pronounced dead at the scene, where she had been ejected from the vehicle.

According to a crash report she was not wearing a seat belt during the crash.

http://www.galesburg.com/x1802694870/Parents-share-their-story-of-daughter-s-death-in-crash wrote:
Students at United High School sat in stunned silence, some with tears rolling down their cheeks, listening to the story of 15-year-old Ashley Waddell as told by her parents, Cathy and Randy Waddell. Ashley and two fellow Pekin High students were killed in a traffic accident in September 2005.
By MICHELLE SHERMAN

There was a distinct absence of talking and laughing as students at United High School gathered Friday afternoon for an assembly. The normal noise of a high school was replaced with scattered sounds of sniffles and hiccups.

The students sat in stunned silence, some with tears rolling down their cheeks, listening to the story of 15-year-old Ashley Waddell as told by her parents, Cathy and Randy Waddell.

Ashley, of Tremont, along with fellow Pekin High School students Zachary Swingle, 15, and Andrew Ford, 16, were killed in a single-vehicle accident on Sept. 28, 2005.

As part of the Operation Teen Safe Driving program at UHS, the Waddells, Ashley’s friend Jani Halverson and a Tremont first-responder, David Kaeb, spoke to the students of the dangers of distracted driving and excessive speed.

“We want you to think how your parents would feel if this happened to them,” Randy said, standing between his wife and a poster-sized picture of Ashley. “It really affects the community when somebody your age dies in a needless accident. The reason we do it (speak to schools) is so that your parents won’t go through the same thing that we had to go through.”

On the night of the accident, the Waddells said, the teens were rushing to Andrew’s house to watch an episode of “One Tree Hill.” They originally were supposed to watch the show at the Waddells,’ but reception was bad.

As the Oldsmobile Alero driven by Andrew, who had received his license little more than one week prior, traveled down the road at 96 mph, it careened out of control and smashed into two small trees.

The car was nearly split in half in the crash and all three teens were killed instantly.

The Waddells had gone out for dinner that night and became worried when Ashley hadn’t returned home by 9:30 p.m. Randy went looking for her and was told at the Ford home that his daughter was dead. He picked Cathy up at their home and they went to Pekin Hospital, where their daughter’s body lay in the morgue.

“Pekin Hospital isn’t that big, but it seemed like a long walk to the morgue,” he said. “The first thing that I noticed is she was cold, gray and her hair was full of little pieces of glass. ... I just leaned over and gave her the last hug I ever gave her.”

They spoke of the shock and sadness of having to deal with life without their youngest daughter, and told the students that planning a child’s funeral is something parents never expect to do.

Cathy told of how they decided to dress Ashley in her homecoming dress, which she had planned to wear to the dance a few days after the accident.

“She had waited so long to wear her homecoming dress and we thought that would be perfect. She loved that dress,” she said.

Jani told the audience how she and the other students spent much of the day following the accident coming to terms with the fact that they would never see their friends again.

Students were given paper and opportunities to write their feelings and messages to the three teens.

“We had 2,300 kids in our school, and I was told that during passing periods, you could hear a pin drop,” she said. “It was lunchtime and I could hardly even hear anything.”

The Waddells have since purchased the car in which their daughter died and they take it with them whenever they speak to students.

“It’s been three years, five months and 25 days and sometimes, it still seems as if she’s still here,” Cathy said. “A part of us died that night. ... We still feel cheated. We had to go to her graduation and see an empty seat where she would’ve sat.

“Guard your choices; some don’t come with second chances.”