A New York father who tracked his two teenage daughters’ phones to the scene of a horrific car crash where he discovered they had both died has revealed their heartbreaking final moments and how he plans to pay tribute to them.
Brian Trumble, 45, told DailyMail.com he called his daughters Hailey, 19, and Shelby, 17, several times after they failed to return home from Seabreeze amusement park in Rochester, New York, on August 1.
After tracking them on the Find My Friends app, Brian drove a few miles to their location and found police already cordoning off the scene.
She described how she collapsed onto the bumper of her car and “couldn’t stand up” when first responders told her one of the girls in the crash had died.
Brian later learned that a firefighter had stayed by his other daughter’s side “until the very end.”
In an interview with DailyMail.com, the devastated father has now revealed that he plans to scatter Hailey and Shelby’s cremated ashes so they can “always be together.”
On Thursday night, Brian Trumble, 45, tragically discovered that his daughters Hailey, 19, and Shelby, 17 (pictured) were killed in a horrific car crash in upstate New York after tracking their cell phones.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Hailey and Shelby’s father Brian described how he slumped over the bumper of his car and “couldn’t get up” when first responders told him one of the girls in the crash had died.
Brian, a farmer, told DailyMail.com that police at the scene eventually told him to return home to wait for news, leading him to believe his girls had already left.
The sisters were traveling in a Chevy Cobalt eastbound on Ira Hill Road when their car “crested a hill and crossed into the oncoming lane, striking a second vehicle,” the sheriff’s office announced Monday.
“Both Hailey and Shelby Trumble died as a result of injuries they sustained at the time of the accident,” he said.
Just before the girls left for the amusement park that day, Brian gave them $100, told them he loved them, and told them to “have fun and behave.”
Brian believes his daughters were unfamiliar with the “windy, mountainous road” when the accident occurred.
The other driver, identified as Robin Latham, 59, was transported to Syracuse University Hospital with serious injuries, where she remains in stable condition.
The girls, who have a 21-year-old brother and two stepsisters, had recently graduated from high school.
Hailey graduated in 2023 and Shelby, who completed a BOCES cosmetology program in Oswego, in 2024.
She recalled that their last in-person conversation was that same morning, when she gave them $100 and told them she loved them and to “have fun and behave,” People reported.
He and the girls’ mother, Tina, described their daughters as “just country girls” who loved animals and being outdoors. (pictured: Hailey, Shelby and their mother photographed in 2017)
Brian believes his daughters were unfamiliar with the “windy, mountainous road” when the accident occurred.
Her father told DailyMail.com that Hailey was due to start a new job at a daycare centre on the Monday after the accident and that she “had a way about her that made little kids gravitate towards her”.
Meanwhile, her youngest daughter, Shelby, was working at a local farm stand selling vegetables.
“She loved it. She was my quiet, playful little girl,” he said.
He and the girls’ mother, Tina, described their daughters as “simple country girls” who loved animals and being outdoors.
Her love for animals began at an early age when she spent time on her grandparents’ farm, caring for cows and pigs.
The family also had cats and dogs, and once even took in a pet raccoon, Tina said.
As teenagers, the sisters would also walk to a pasture near their home to see horses, always bringing some carrots and apples to feed them, she said.
The sisters were also volunteers for the CNY Cat Coalition, and had just rescued two kittens named Smokey and Bandit, who were thrown out of a car window, days before their deaths.
The girls loved fishing growing up, and their mother Tina recounted how when Shelby was in elementary school, she would get off the bus and run straight to the pond.
A memorial filled with large white crosses has been erected at the site of the accident in honour of the sisters.
The girls had recently graduated from high school, Hailey in 2023 and Shelby in 2024, completing a BOCES cosmetology program from Oswego.
Hailey’s cat needed an amputation and she was hoping to see him after her trip to Seabreeze on Thursday.
“Our hearts go out to the Trumble family and everyone who loved Hailey and Shelby,” the CNY Cat Coalition said in a Facebook post about the deceased sisters.
‘As one of their final acts of kindness, these amazing sisters rescued a pair of abandoned sister cats, Bandit and Smokey, helped foster them through the Cat Coalition, and were planning to adopt them.’
Brian explained that both Shelby and Hailey were “very protective” of him and even used the Find My Friends app to track him during their night shifts at the farm.
Although both Brian and Tina raised their girls, he recalls: ‘I raised them myself for quite a while… they always looked after me.’
He added that the two girls were organ donors. “We hope they have helped countless people,” Brian said.
TO GoFundMe A page has been set up to help the family pay for the sister’s funeral.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, the fundraiser had surpassed its $10,000 goal, reaching more than $43,000.
As teenagers, the sisters would walk together to a pasture near their home to look at horses.
Brian plans to scatter Hailey and Shelby’s cremated ashes so they can “always be together”
The cause of the fatal collision remains unclear and an investigation is ongoing.
A memorial to the sisters was placed at the side of the road, with two large white crosses and the letters “H” and “S” on them.
“It’s too early to say exactly what happened, what caused this accident and what factors were involved,” Sheriff Brian Schneck said. told CNY Central.
“But we are looking at all the evidence we can.”
He added that officials have found no evidence that either driver was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
Brian praised the police and fire department for all their help and called them “amazing people” for being there for his daughters.
“I wish I could have helped my daughters,” she said.
‘Tell your children you love them, hug them every day.’
