The family of the teen driver behind the wheel in a fatal Texas car crash that left nine people dead was struck by another tragedy just months before the accident. According to a GoFundMe, the Siemens family lost everything in a devastating house fire.
Henrich Siemens’ 13-year-old son was driving a 2007 Dodge 2500 pickup truck when a spare tired failed, causing the vehicle to swerve in front of a van carrying members of New Mexico University of the Southwest’s men’s and women’s golf teams.
Mennonite Evangelical Church Seminole Pastor Jake Fehr told NBC News that the Siemens family’s house burned down late last year.
“The whole house burned down. They lost everything in that home,” he told the outlet.
According to the GoFundMe, the family also lost one of their pets in the fire. The family’s dog died hiding under a bed.
A family friend told DailyMail.com that the Siemens’ family home was burned down by the teen who was cooking eggs.
“Just before Christmas, their house burned down … The 13-year-old made some eggs and forgot about it,” according to a family friend, Aganetha.
“I couldn’t imagine going through all that and then to have this happen,” she told the outlet. “It’s just so sad.”
The funds from the online fundraiser would help the family get settled into new housing and replace some of the items they lost, such as clothes, toiletries, and school supplies. “Some of the children ran out of the house without shoes,” it said.
The funeral for Siemens and his son is planned for Tuesday and Wednesday. Fehr told NBC News that the funeral would be held at Mennonite Evangelical Church Seminole because it has more space than the church they usually attended. Pastor Richard “Buck” Wheat of South Seminole Baptist Church, the church they attended, will officiate.
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