A lady posted a photo of her granddaughter’s dying moments, soon before the three-year-old’s terrible death.
Tragic accounts state that on October 7, 2022, a hit-and-run killed Scarlett Jensen. Her grandma was looking after her and her two-year-old brother Henry while her mother, Samantha Jensen, and father were away for a wedding.
However, as the three of them were strolling on the family’s private driveway in Oldtown, Idaho, something unexpected occurred. A Chevy Tahoe raced down the road, hitting Scarlett, her grandma, and her brother.
“My mother was waving her hands, screaming for him to stop, and she tried to grab my children out of the way, but he was going too fast,” Samantha Jensen told me.
“My mom and Henry suffered critical injuries, and Scarlett died almost instantly.”
The suspect in the Chevrolet fled the area on foot before being arrested many kilometers away. He is currently serving a ten-year jail term.
“Henry was life-flighted to the children’s hospital where they found a fractured spine, six broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, a liver laceration, and several other injuries,” Samantha told PEOPLE on Tuesday.
“My mom had several broken bones but was able to be released from the hospital.”
She went further: “Henry spent a week in the PICU before he was stable enough to come home, and he had a full body brace on for 10 weeks.”
In the weeks that followed, the family was steeped in sadness until Samantha unearthed a seemingly harmless photo of Scarlett shot by her mother just before her death.
“My mom lost her phone when they were hit, and it took us a while to find it, so when we finally did, I was going through pictures and found that one,” Jensen tells me. “I checked the timestamp and saw that it was only five minutes before her declared time of death, so the person hit them seconds earlier.”
PEOPLE reports that Scarlett’s grandmother captured the photo while taking her two grandchildren out for ice cream.
“When they arrived home to our back driveway, Scarlett wanted to get out of the stroller to pick flowers,” Samantha told me. “That’s when my mom took the last picture I have of her alive.”
The sad mother revealed that her days are now different. Some people are inherently tougher than others, but the family is doing everything they can to deal with their overwhelming sadness.
She told the newspaper, “Some days, I feel like I am drowning, and on other days, I can manage.” “My entire family is putting forth a lot of effort in therapy to recover as much as possible. My trust in the Lord has saved my life and has aided me in my healing process.”
At first, the grieving mother struggled to look at the final image of her daughter. Samantha realized two years after her death that the image represents a lovely life.
“I am so incredibly thankful to have that photo,” she told PEOPLE. The photo captures the serene atmosphere of her final moments and the beauty that enveloped her as she drew her last breaths. I will always imagine her joyful and carefree, picking flowers with her closest friend and Meemaw.”
Rest in peace, Scarlett.