Donations Would Help Family Of Child Who Died In Howell Crash

HOWELL, NJ — A donation site has been set up for the family who suffered the loss of a three-year-old girl in a Howell car accident Saturday, in which the mom was seriously injured.

A GoFundMe site has been established by the family's grandfather's company. You can access the site here.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the multi-vehicle collision Saturday afternoon at Routes 33 and 34 in Howell.

Shortly before 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, Howell police were called to Route 34, just north of the interchange with State Route 33, for a report of a collision.

There they found the three involved vehicles: a 2014 Dodge Ram pickup truck with an adult female driver, a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee with an adult female driver and three passengers, including two children, and a 2021 Ford Bronco with an adult female driver, the prosecutor's office said.

The child who died and her severely injured mother were in the Jeep. Others involved in the accident sustained minor injuries.

The prosecutor's office has not yet revealed the identities of those involved. But it confirmed on Wednesday that the mother driving the Jeep Cherokee is age 34, from Howell. Apart from her children, her other passenger was a woman, 37, from Wall. The Dodge Ram driver was a woman, 31, from Long Branch. The Ford Bronco driver was a woman, 33, from Brick, according to the prosecutor's office.

The GoFundMe site has explained some details of the family who suffered the loss of the little girl:

Alyson Byrne of Lee Wetherington Homes, based in Florida, where the child's grandfather is a manager, said on the site that "a terrible tragedy has befallen a member of our Lee Wetherington Homes family, and we are reaching out to our many friends, loyal customers and trade partners to ask for your help."

She said Jack Williams, the vice president of construction for the company, is the grandfather of the child who died in the three-vehicle accident.

"His son Kyle lives in New Jersey with his wife Joelle and their children, Jack’s grandchildren, Kylie, 3, and Lucas, 2.

"It is so hard to write these words, but Jack’s beautiful granddaughter Kylie, Kyle and Joelle’s precious daughter, died at the scene of the accident. Joelle herself has suffered extremely severe injuries and has already had two-plus surgeries and faces several more plus rehab and an extended recovery of months to a year-plus," the site says.

Lucas and Joelle’s passenger suffered minor injuries and will be fine, the post said.

"Kyle and Joelle are a hard-working couple, both teachers. Plus, Joelle also was growing her own successful children’s party planning business and Kyle is a very successful youth competitive swim coach," the post said.

"In the blink of an eye, on what should have been a regular Saturday evening, their lives imploded. They now not only face the immeasurable grief of losing Kylie but the huge health challenges that Joelle will face to recover," the post said.

"We know that because of Joelle’s serious injuries and the challenges they will face such as loss of income, funeral expenses for little Kylie, medical bills, and what were once regular monthly bills like mortgage and car payments will now become a worry for this young family."

The post says: "We wanted to help relieve the worry of financial difficulties by launching this GoFundMe request. So, we humbly ask for your help, no matter how big or small, to help the Williams family at this terrible time in their young lives. It takes a village and tonight they most surely need one."

Again, the donation site can be accessed here.

Anyone with information about this accident is being asked to contact MCPO Agent Reginald Grant at 800-533-7443 or Howell Township Police Officer Daniel Scherbinski at 732-938-4575, ext. 2663.