Local News
Savannah Gatchell died at the scene of the crash around 3 a.m. on Tuesday.
The community of Marblehead is mourning the loss of a 13-year-old girl who died in a fatal crash on Tuesday.
Savannah Gatchell, who would have started eighth grade next week, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash around 3 a.m. on Tuesday.
The driver was a 16-year-old who was charged with operating under the influence, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office.
On Tuesday, a community member started a fundraising page to support the family with funeral expenses. In less than 24 hours, $29,900 has been raised with the total fundraising goal set at $50,000.
“My daughter will be missed deeply. That was my baby,” Savannah’s mother, Christine Gatchell, told NBC10. “There is an empty hole in my chest. I don’t know how to move on.”
“She was always there, always loving,” Savannah’s sister, Allysa Otero, told NBC10 at the memorial created at the site of the crash on Atlantic Avenue.
“She had a huge heart and always cared for others. She was the kind of person you could turn to when you were sad or stressed, and she would be there to listen and bring comfort,” the GoFundMe page states. “Even at such a young age, she had so much life, light, and joy within her, and she touched countless lives around her.”
“She was outgoing, loving, had lots of friends … She had a lot of life to live,” Christine Gatchell told WHDH.
She continued, “I just know that my daughter was technically sneaking out. I tried to stop her … Teenagers, what are you going to do?”
She wants the person responsible to be held accountable for the accident, she told NBC10.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
