SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. — The parents of a teenager say she graduated high school early and was headed out of state with her boyfriend to start a new life.
Now the teen and her boyfriend are dead after police say a wrong-way driver hit and killed them.
The teen’s mother told Channel 2′s Tom Jones that it was a drunk driver who hit them.
“They were just starting their lives,” Tracie Lester said about her daughter Rylee Lester, 18, and her boyfriend Sebastian Arnold, 23.
Lester shared video that Rylee shot as she and Sebastian drove from Georgia headed for a new life in Oklahoma last week, Rylee loved imitating dogs and cats.
“Woof, woof, woof. Meow,” she said to the camera as Sebastian urged her to do it again.
The two were having so much fun as they traveled to their new homes. Four hours later both Rylee and Sebastian were dead.
“She was my baby,” Rylee’s mom said through tears.
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Lester said Rylee graduated early from high school in December. Sebastian was in school in Oklahoma and Rylee was joining him to attend school there, too.
As they drove through Arkansas on Interstate 40 around 2 a.m., tragedy struck.
“This driver on the expressway going the wrong direction, and he was drunk. And they hit head on,” is what Lester said police told her.
Rylee and Sebastian were killed. The driver was taken to the hospital.
Rylee’s mother is urging drivers, if you have too much to drink, put your keys down.
“Call somebody. There’s no reason to get behind the wheel,” Lester said.
Rylee’s parents told Jones that their hearts are broken.
Lester hangs on to the last words she said to her daughter before she left for Oklahoma.
“And I just remember telling her that she’s all I ever wanted. That I was so proud of her,” Lester said.
Funeral services for Sebastian were held Wednesday. Rylee’s funeral is Friday.
To help Rylee’s family with funeral expenses. CLICK HERE.
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