Dad Opens Up After Sisters Die in Crash, Shares Last Conversation (Exclusive)

A father who found out his two daughters died in a crash after using an app to track their phones is opening up to PEOPLE about his heartbreak, as well as the love he has for his girls.

Authorities in upstate New York said Hailey Trumble, 19, and Shelby Trumble, 17, were riding in a Chevrolet Cobalt when they were involved in the crash on Ira Hill Road on Thursday, Aug. 1.

Brian Trumble, 45, confirms to PEOPLE he used the Find My Friends app to track down their whereabouts after texting them several times when the sisters, who had spent the day at an amusement park in Rochester, failed to come home.

“It’s just unreal,” he says. “I still can’t come to terms with it.”

In his last in-person conversation with his daughters earlier that morning, Brian said he gave them $100 for the amusement park and told them he loved them, and to “have fun and behave.”

“Of course, they were adults,” he says. “They didn’t need to be told to be behaved, but this is what I always tell them.”

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After spending the day at Seabreeze with Brian’s girlfriend, the sisters returned to her home before setting off again — and Brian says police told him that the sisters used the GPS on Hailey’s phone to direct them back home to Granby.

Brian believes his daughters were unfamiliar with the “hilly, windy road” they were driving on when the crash occurred, and that they likely lost control of the vehicle after going “too fast” over the top of a hill.

According to a news release from the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office, the car his daughters were in was traveling eastbound when the vehicle “crested a hill and crossed into the opposite lane, striking a second vehicle.” The driver of that vehicle survived and was transported to a hospital for her injuries.

Although he says he wasn’t initially worried when he texted and called and didn’t get an answer, explaining that the area his daughters were driving through didn’t get great cell service, around 6 p.m. that night, he decided to see if he could find their location.

Once he saw they were on Ferris Road in Cato he sent Shelby another text message, asking, “Where are you?” When he didn’t receive a response, he told his girlfriend that their phone showed they were in Cato, which was only about three miles away.

“And she said, ‘Oh my God, I heard something happened on Ferris Road,’ ” he recalls.

As he neared their location, Brian was stopped by a police officer who was blocking a street leading to Ferris Road. He was later approached by officers who told him that two girls had been involved in an accident down the road, and that one had died. (Although they couldn’t give him more details at the time, he later learned it was Shelby.)

“I just sat on my bumper and I couldn’t stand up,” Brian recalls, noting that the nearby police and firemen were there to support him. “They were great,” he adds.

A short time later, the Trumble family learned Hailey had died as well — and he says that one of the firemen, Josh Lovejoy, told Brian that he stayed with Hailey right until the end.

“Since then, we’ve all just been holding on each other and just coping and trying to deal,” Brian says.

Hailey and Shelby will be cremated “so they’ll always be together,” which Brian says gives him “some sort of peace.”

“It does oddly bring some sort of a comfort,” he explains. “I mean, I wish none of this happened, but it does give me some kind of comfort that they’re together.”

Both girls were also organ donors. Brian says they made that decision in order to “help other people” in need. “I want people to know their story,” he adds, “they were sweet and beautiful and just lovely.”

Haley graduated from high school last year, and Shelby graduated earlier this year, according to their father. Hailey was supposed to start a job with a local daycare, while Shelby had gotten her first job at a local farm.

“They were both just sweet and lovely and very good,” Brian recalls, noting that they were both animal lovers and “simple country girls” at heart. 

“They touched so many people,” the father continues. “Everybody that met ’em just loved them. They’re just super sweet and kind and really smart, very smart. They were pretty much just figuring out what they were wanting to do.”

A service for Hailey and Shelby will be held Saturday, Aug. 10 at Traub Funeral Home in Central Square, according to their father.

“They were just so lovely,” Brian says. “And they were so important to so many people.”