A violent RTA on the Philip Goldson Highway over the weekend claimed the life of a Belize City teenager - and police say a drunk driver is to blame.
She is 19 year old Denia Rowland who passed away at the scene of the accident. Jomarie Lanza visited the mourning family today and here's what she learned about the deceased.
The body of 19 year old Denia Rowland was pulled out from this wreckage just a stone's throw away from the Sandhill police station.
The teenager was heading back to Belize City from a football game in the village when the driver, Oscar Galindo, lost control of the truck, causing them to flip several times.
Rowland died on the scene as a result of her injuries.
And while her family is now making burial preparations, her grandmother told us today that she still has yet to come to terms with the fact that such a tragedy could have occurred. She recollected for us the last time she saw Denia alive.
Yvonne Higgs, Grandmother of Deceased
"Easter Sunday, on Easter Monday we were all together. We were all together that weekend and then she went back home because she said she has to go to work that was the last time I spoke to, and saw my granddaughter."
"She was my heart. I know I have other granddaughters, but she was the second grandchild and whenever she is wrong, I never have to do anything. Denia, she would say granny, I got this, do you want me to massage your foot? That was who Denia was. Denia was a jovial, very, very sweet, young lady."
And while the news of the fatal RTA spread like wildfire throughout the media, Rowland's grandmother wanted to clear up some of the speculations and rumors about her granddaughter being pregnant.
Jo
"To your knowledge was she with child?"
Yvonne Higgs, Grandmother of Deceased
"No! I want all Media houses to stop. My granddaughter was not pregnant. so anyone who sent this rumor all around I need them to stop. Denia Rowland was not pregnant."
It's a heartbreak unlike any other, to bury a loved one so young. A heartbreak that Higgs and her family must now grapple with, but it is softened by the memories she shared with Denia throughout her life, that will keep her spirit alive:
Yvonne Higgs, Grandmother of Deceased
"Jovial, beautiful with a smile, that smile she have a beautiful smile that will take your breath away. That's who she is, I don't want anyone to remember her as no drunken woman no. She was sweet, loving and compassionate granddaughter. And I will cherish that till the day I die. She was supposed to bury me, I wasn't supposed to bury her. I wasn't supposed to bury her. She was supposed to bury me. But it's OK. God will give us the strength. God and our family we can lean on now. And I pray for all the other family on her mom side that God will give them the strength to endure this loss. This is a big loss a very big loss."
