BILLINGS - The Yellowstone County Coroner's Office on Friday identified the two teens killed in a one-vehicle crash on Airport Road as sisters who were living in Billings.
Alicia Half, 16, and Alexia Half, 18, were killed early Wednesday when a vehicle with four occupants rolled east of the roundabout at the Billings airport.
Watch the interview with family members below:
The teens and one other occupant were ejected from the vehicle. The two occupants who were injured but survived the crash have not been identified, and police have not said who was driving the vehicle.
“Every time I hung out with them – they made me laugh. They spread so much joy. Can’t see them no more. My heart aches,” brother Jesse Cash told MTN News.
The emotions of losing loved ones are still very raw for Cash, the older brother of Alicia and Alexia Half. He says his sisters – while younger – were a big part of his support system.
“I know they’re watching me – I know they’re protecting me,” he said.
The girls' mother, Mary Lou Half, wants people to know her daughters were much more than the crash.
“My girls were just so full of life... Alexia, she was a go-getter. She was out there doing what she wanted. I’d say reach for the stars, and she did. Alicia, she was into makeup. She would spend hours on her face. She would help her sister for the prom or a dance," she said.
She begged teenagers who heard about this tragedy to put on their seatbelts while in a car and remember their parents give them rules to protect them.
“When your parents tell you something please listen. They say it because they love you and care about you," Mary Lou Half said.
Alexia and Alicia’s father says he’s still trying to process losing his daughters.
“No one should bury their children – it should be the opposite,” he said.
But he also wanted the community to know how thankful the family is for all the support that has been shown to them since the tragic accident.
An initial investigation determined speed may have been a factor in the crash, police said.
A GoFundMe fundraising effort has been created to help with funeral expenses. Visit the page here.
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