BOUNCING her little boy on her lap Samantha Jensen admires the colourful flowers scattered across the kitchen table.
“Looks like someone’s been gardening again,” she says.
Scarlett Jensen was killed by a hit and run driver[/caption]
Right on cue, the door flies open, and her three-year-old daughter Scarlett skips in holding picked blooms and belting out her favourite Frozen song before presenting lavender to her two-year-old brother Henry.
“Scarlett brought so much colour and happiness into our lives,” Samantha, 27, says.
“There was nothing she loved more than unicorns, picking flowers, listening to songs from the Frozen movies, and playing with her brother and baby sister, Molly.
“She embraced everything, and enjoyed meeting new people and learning new things.
“I still can’t believe she was snatched away from us so cruelly.”
Days later, Samantha and her brother Alex were getting ready to catch a flight to attend a wedding.
Molly was coming was going with their mum, but Scarlett and Henry were staying behind with their dad Lane.
As Lane was working Samantha’s mum Jamie agreed to come and watch the children.
“She told me she was going to take them out for ice cream and I knew Scarlett would love that,” Samantha says.
Just before catching their plane, Scarlett FaceTimed her mum.
“My usually happy little Scarlett was crying,” she remembers.
“She was upset that her snowglobe had broken, but I told her that her grandma was taking her for ice cream and I promised to buy her a new snowglobe while I was away.
“And I kept that promise.”
Only Samantha never got to give Scarlett her snowglobe.
“After a lovely wedding, we returned home,” she says.
“After our plane landed, I turned my phone on, and an emergency alert came through.
“It was notifying me of a heavy police presence on the road where I lived, and I felt worried.
“I phoned Mum, but she didn’t pick up, so I phoned Lane but he didn’t know anything.
This photo taken of Scarlett and her brother Henry was taken just five minutes before she was killed[/caption]
Dakota James LaFountain appeared in court and pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter[/caption]
“Then, a flight attendant called my name out over the tannoy, and I was informed that police were waiting for me.
“In the airport, I spotted the two police officers, and a wave of dread swept over me.”
Desperate for answers Samantha asked the police officers who were hurt, but they didn’t know and told her to call her local hospital.
“I phoned and a doctor told me that Henry was hit by a car,” Samantha, who lives in Idaho, remembers.
“He explained that Henry had been taken by helicopter to a nearby children’s hospital, and told me to get there as quickly as possible.
“I was in disbelief.”
Samantha left Molly with Alex, travelling with police officers to the hospital.
“I still hadn’t heard from Mum, but I assumed she and Scarlett were together,” she says.
“It broke my heart to imagine how sad and scared Scarlett must have been for her little brother. He was her best friend.
“I phoned Lane and told him to meet me at the hospital where I was taken to see Henry.
“He was unconscious and his tiny body was hooked up to wires.
My baby couldn’t be dead, she was just a baby and she had a soccer game tomorrow
Samantha Jensen
“His beautiful little face was covered in blood. I cried as I stroked his silky blond hair and told him I was there.”
Then a nurse appeared and asked Samantha to come with her to the hospital chapel.
There she told Samantha that her mum and Scarlett had also been hit by the car. Jamie was being treated at the hospital but Scarlett had been killed.
“I stared at her, trying to make sense of what I’d just been told,” she says.
“The words Scarlett didn’t make it rang in my ears.
“Then I screamed.
“My baby couldn’t be dead, she was just a baby and she had a soccer game tomorrow.
“I reached into my bag to grab my phone and I found the snow globe I’d bought for Scarlett.
“It hit me then, how I’d never see her smiling little face or hear her voice again.”
Samantha phoned Lane who was travelling to the hospital.
“I sent his world crashing down,” she says.
“The wounded sound that came from the other end of the phone was something I knew I’d never forget.”
Soon after, Lane, Alex and Molly arrived at hospital.
“Lane and I held each other and cried,” the mum says.
“When we went to see Scarlett, she looked so peaceful, as if she was sleeping.
“We dressed her in her favourite blue dress and brown suede shoes.
“We brought all her favourite toys to her, and we brushed her golden curls, painted her nails and read her favourite bedtime story Goodnight Scarlett.”
Where to seek grief support
Need professional help with grief?
- Child Bereavement UK Childbereavementuk.org
- Cruse Bereavement Cruse.org.uk
- Relate Relate.org.uk
- The Good Grief Trust Thegoodgrieftrust.org
- You can also always speak to your GP if you’re struggling.
You’re Not Alone
Check out these books, podcasts and apps that all expertly navigate grief…
- Griefcast: Cariad Lloyd interviews comedians on this award-winning podcast.
- The Madness Of Grief by Rev Richard Coles (£9.99, W&N): The Strictly fave writes movingly on losing his husband David to alcoholism.
- Terrible, Thanks For Asking: Podcast host Nora McInerny encourages non-celebs to share how they’re really feeling.
- Good Mourning by Sally Douglas and Imogen Carn (£14.99, Murdoch Books): A guide for people who’ve suffered sudden loss, like the authors who both lost their mums.
- Grief Works: Download this for daily meditations and expert tips.
- How To Grieve Like A Champ by Lianna Champ (£3.99, Red Door Press): A book for improving your relationship with death.
Later that day the couple visited Jamie. She’d suffered a broken collarbone, torn ligaments in her leg, and a dislocated shoulder.
“When she saw us, she burst into tears and apologised,” she says.
“We reassured her that none of this was her fault.”
Jamie explained how she’d taken Scarlett and Henry for ice-cream and a walk.
As they approached the family driveway, Scarlett wanted to be let out of her buggy so she could pick some yellow and purple flowers she’d spotted.
But a 4×4 came hurtling down the dirt road.
Jamie had waved and shouted at the driver to stop. She’d tried to pull the kids out of the way, but he was going too fast.
Scarlett was killed almost instantly. Jamie and Henry were critically injured.
The driver had fled the scene. But he’d later been caught and arrested.
Scarlett was later cremated.
I feel grateful that her last moments were peaceful and happy, spent with her brother, picking flowers, and with a belly full of ice-cream
Samantha Yensen
“I rested my head on Lane’s shoulder, as we watched her tiny casket disappear from view,” Samantha says.
“Through tears we sang her favourite song Into the Unknown – Where are you going? Don’t leave me alone. How do I follow you, into the unknown?”
A couple of days later, Henry was discharged and returned home.
He’d suffered a fractured spine, six broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, a liver laceration and several other injuries. He had to wear a full body brace for eight weeks.
“He would ask where his sissy was and I told him that she was in heaven and while we couldn’t see her she’d always be with us,” Samantha says.
A couple of weeks after Scarlett’s death, Jamie’s phone was recovered from the crime scene.
On it, was a photo Jamie had taken of Scarlett taken moments before she was killed.
The photo had been taken at 16:47pm and Scarlett’s time of death was 16:52pm.
“It was heartbreaking to look at the picture knowing what came next,” Samantha says.
Months later, Samantha discovered that she was pregnant.
“When I found out I told Lane it was a gift from Scarlett,” she says.
Meanwhile, an investigation into her death began.
In time, Dakota James LaFountain appeared in court and pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
“We learnt that he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he drove his car into our family,” Samantha says.
“He claimed he was having a mental breakdown and didn’t remember a thing.”
LaFountain was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“It’s not right that he’s serving such a short sentence when he robbed Scarlett of her entire life,” Samantha says.
“Now, Scarlett’s baby sister Rosie is 18 months old.
“Although they never got to meet, we talk about Scarlett every day, as we want her siblings to grow up knowing all about their big sister.
“I’d give anything to have Scarlett back.
“But when I look at that last photo taken of her, I feel grateful that her last moments were peaceful and happy, spent with her brother, picking flowers, and with a belly full of ice-cream.”
