Mother was on her way to pick up daughter with flat tire on I-75 when 21-year-old was killed

MARIETTA, Ga. — We are learning more about a 21-year-old woman who was hit and killed by a car after she pulled over along Interstate 75 after getting a flat tire.

It happened around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday in the northbound lanes of the interstate near South Marietta Parkway.

Eduarda Cristina Romano da Silva was run over while waiting for help.

Another driver was also killed in what ended up being a chain-reaction crash that involved a total of five vehicles.

Da Silva is from Brazil, but Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell learned that she lived here in Marietta with her mom, brother, and sister for the past few years.

Now the entire Brazilian community in Cobb County is coming together to show support for da Silva’s family.

“I think I’ll miss like walking into the house and seeing her there, asking where she’s at,” family friend Bethany Verbrugge said.

All that’s left are memories.

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“She was very involved in the community, had a lot of friends. A lot of people called her Duda, which is like the Brazilian slang nickname for Eduarda,” Verbrugge said.

Verbrugge said da Silva was more like a sister to her.

“She was hilarious. She was really funny. She was feisty but in the best way and I think she was really determined,” Verbrugge said. “She was getting really involved in church.”

Friends and family are now trying to process an unimaginable level of pain.

“She called her mom at five in the morning and her mom picked up, got her clothes on, and went to go pick up her daughter who had a flat tire on the side of the highway,” Verbrugge said.

Da Silva was on I-75 at South Marietta Parkway on Tuesday. She pulled over to the left shoulder and got out of her car.

Police say her car was rear-ended, she was hit, then a catastrophic series of crashes happened.

“At the moment that she died, she was on the phone with her best friend and so it’s definitely comforting to know that I’m her final moments she knew she was so loved,” Verbrugge said.

There is a GoFundMe page for funeral expenses. The family needs help sending da Silva’s body to Brazil. Her father still lives there.

So far, they’ve raised over $30,000.

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