Two teenage girls who went missing after attending the East Central High School homecoming dance were found dead along Highway 613 between Agricola and Hurley on Sunday morning.
Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd said the victims were Chloe Taylor and Bayleigh Bowlin, both 16 and from Jackson County, according to WLOX.
The two went to East Central High School. Their families posted that the girls were missing on Sunday morning after attending the homecoming dance on Saturday night.
Teens died following a single-car crash at Highway 613
Sheriff Ezell said the teen girls were involved in a single-car crash at the intersection of Highway 613 and Lum Reeves Road. The Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) responded to the scene around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday with the officers finding a 2012 Nissan Altima that Taylor drove with Bowlin as her passenger.
According to the MHP, the vehicle left the road before crashing into an embankment and a tree. Lynd said that an uncle of one of the missing girls noticed a stop sign missing on Lum-Reeves Road at the intersection of Highway 613.
He stopped to search the wooded area where he found the girls dead. They were still buckled into their seats in their overturned vehicle under some brush in the nearby wooded area, according to Biloxi Sun Herald.
Superintendent John Strycker said that the students of East Central High spent Monday mourning the loss of their classmates. He noted a numbness right now, and it is hard to describe. He added that it might be part of his perception of how he is feeling, but he is observing very closely what is happening on campus.
Students grieving following shocking death of teens
According to Strycker, four Jackson County School District students have died over the previous year. He said that there is no template for how you navigate through a loss like this. He added that he had been a superintendent for almost 20 years now, and, again, each situation is different, and each situation is a tragedy.
Garon Tate, the Wade Baptist Church student and family pastor, said that over the last calendar year, there had been a lot of loss that these students have had to process. He noted that he and several student pastors and counselors in the community are there to be with the students.
Tate said there is nothing profound that they can say to make things better or go away, but they want them to know that they are not alone, that they are loved. He added that there is still hope even on the worst days. He said that through Christ, they have hope.
MHP is still investigating the cause of the car crash that claimed the lives of Taylor and Bowlin, according to the U.S. Sun.
