Las Cruces, NM : Harwood a 28-year-old mother along with two of her children killed in a fiery crash at I-25 on Sunday, April 10th, 2016

Antoinette Harwood was remembered Monday as a kind, loving woman who lived to care for her children.

Harwood, a 28-year-old mother of five, was killed early Sunday along with two of her children — 2-year-old Adrian Banda and Layahna Banda, who was born 18 days earlier — in a fiery crash on Interstate 25 that also claimed the life of 19-year-old Karyme Banda.

“Her kids were her life; they’re all she lived for,” LaToya Jimenez, Harwood’s older sister, said on Monday.

Harwood was driving a Hyundai sedan when the crash occurred after midnight Sunday in a southbound lane on I-25, according to New Mexico State Police, which responded to the crash around 12:30 a.m. The two children and Karyme Banda were passengers.

Police said the Hyundai sedan was stopped in the left lane of travel near mile marker 6, when a Ford sedan, also traveling in the left lane, struck Harwood’s vehicle. The Hyundai’s fuel tank ruptured on impact, causing the vehicle erupt in flames, police said.

Harwood and Banda died at the scene, according to police. The two children were pronounced dead at hospitals in Las Cruces.

Jimenez on Monday said Harwood and her boyfriend, who lived in the unincorporated village of Doña Ana, were in a caravan to Las Cruces when the crash occurred. Harwood’s boyfriend, Adrian Banda, the father of the two children and brother of Karyme Banda, reportedly witnessed the crash, Jimenez said.

“He was actually at the scene of the accident. He saw it all happen and pulled the kids out of the car before it erupted,” she said. “(He) tried to get my sister out, but her legs were pinned under the steering wheel. He couldn’t get her out, but he got the kids out — but they didn’t make it.”

After Harwood’s boyfriend removed his two children from the vehicle, Jimenez said, he placed them about 10 feet away from the wreckage and returned to help Harwood and his sister.

“But the car exploded,” she said, before adding, “He didn’t even get a chance to try to help his sister out because the doors were smashed so bad.”

Harwood was one of seven siblings who all grew up in Las Cruces, her sister said. She attended Alameda Elementary School and later Picacho Middle School. She graduated from Mayfield High School in 2007, the same year she gave birth to her first child, Johanna.

Harwood eventually had five children, most recently giving birth to Layahna late last month. Her third child, DJ, died at 3 weeks old from SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, Jimenez said.

According to Jimenez, Harwood had been employed at the Wal-Mart on Walton Boulevard for several years and worked a night shift so she could spend days with her children.

“She had such a good heart. She was always willing to help people — she always did help people. I think that’s why the community is so shocked by it, because she was so well-known and everybody loved her,” said Jimenez, who last spoke to her sister several hours before the crash.

Jimenez said she last saw Harwood and her kids about four days before the crash.

"I just saw them on Wednesday — that was the last time I saw them — and I was just loving on Layahna; she was so beautiful," Jimenez said.

Harwood is survived by many family members, as well as her two oldest children, Johanna, 9, and Zakaya, 6.

Karyme Banda was about four months pregnant and was expecting to learn the sex of the baby in the coming days, Jimenez said.

Funeral arrangements for the family members are pending.

A GoFundMe account has been created to help with the expenses. Nearly $5,000 had been donated by Monday evening, according to the website. To donate visit www.gofundme.com/djye69ms.

On Monday, two spokespersons for New Mexico State Police said the crash remains under investigation. No new details have been released since Sunday.

Police were unable to provide an update on the current condition of the driver of the Ford sedan, who was identified as 18-year-old as Noa Siamu, of Las Cruces. He was airlifted to University Medical in El Paso after the crash and was listed in stable condition as of Sunday, according to police.

Source :
Sister remembers family who died in fiery crash