ST. LOUIS – A single mother of five girls was hit by a train and killed before she could give her daughters the Christmas she had planned for.
Ashley Hogan, 35, was on her way home from working at a nursing facility just after 3:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve when her car got stuck on the railroad tracks in north St. Louis County, Missouri. Investigators say the single mother of five died after her car was hit by a train, KMOV reports.
“Some days are better than others,” said the victim’s mother, Vernadine Hogan. “For the most part, it’s been difficult. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the reality of I no longer have my daughter, and they no longer have their mom.”
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is still investigating how Ashley Hogan’s car ended up on the tracks and whether she experienced a medical episode before the train hit her vehicle.
“We know the vehicle traveled off the roadway for really an unknown reason, became stuck in the gravel area beside the railroad tracks,” said Cpl. Dallas Thompson with the MSHP.
Meanwhile, Ashley Hogan’s family is heartbroken. The mother wanted to make sure her daughters, ranging in age from 6 to 15, had a merry Christmas before tragedy struck.
“She would always try to figure out what can I do to top the last Christmas, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen this year,” Vernadine Hogan said. “I know that they’re very heartbroken, and I know that they’re shattered internally.”
At nearly 60, she is now embarking on the journey of raising her five granddaughters.
“I never in my wildest imagination thought that at my age, I would be taking on raising five children, and I am starting over from scratch,” she said.
As the family mourns, the community has stepped up to help through donations of clothes and money. Ferguson Police Officer Andrae Spraggin, a high school friend of Ashley Hogan, is showing his support by collecting donations at the police department.
“Ashley was a good person, a good friend. At this time, her daughters are the most important thing in the world right now,” Spraggin said.
A GoFundMe has also been set up to help the family. It had raised more than $40,500, as of Sunday night.
Vernadine Hogan says she is overwhelmed by the kindness the community has shown her family.
“All I can say is I am so grateful and I am so thankful of the immense support the community has provided,” she said.
She and her granddaughters are now trying to figure out how they will navigate through life without Ashley Hogan.
“I don’t want them to think if she would have never walked out the door, if she would have never got in the car, if she had never went to work,” Vernadine Hogan said. “I want them to remember that she loved them so much.”
The Ferguson Police Department is serving as a drop-off location for donations from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Clothing sizes for the children include:
15-year-old – 5 junior bottoms and 14 and small in junior shirts
12-year-old – 14/16 bottoms and tops
11-year-old -12 top and bottom
9-year-old – size 14 bottom and top
6-year-old – 6 bottom and top
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