A police chase with an alleged kidnapper caused a massive highway pileup that killed two Missouri teenagers on their way to a Billie Eilish concert – and the singer weighed in on the “heartbreaking” tragedy.
Kole Cunningham and Lucy Yeates, both 18, died and Yeates’ twin sister, Aubrey Yeates, was badly injured in the wreckage around 7:30 p.m. along Interstate 29 near Iowa as authorities pursued an alleged kidnapper and a 1-year-old who was in the car, according to reports.
Police first received a call about the suspect Sunday morning from a woman who claimed the man assaulted her in a domestic incident and took her baby in Nebraska, according to the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in the Hawkeye State.
She claimed the man was both suicidal and homicidal.
Authorities spotted and began chasing the suspect’s speeding 2023 Kia Sorento as the SUV traveled southbound against traffic in the left lane, the sheriff’s office said. While most police cars drove on the right side of the highway, one sheriff cruiser was also driving against traffic to track down the alleged perp.
After the suspect drove into Missouri still going the wrong way, it smacked into a 2013 Ford Focus that was carrying the three teens en route to Eilish, KMBC reported.
That crash caused a 2024 Volvo semi-truck to swerve to avoid that crash, but ended up hitting the deputy trailing the alleged kidnapper, law enforcement said.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was also killed in the multi-vehicle crash while the 1-year-old was saved from the burning SUV, the sheriff’s said.
Eilish, who performed at the United Center in Chicago the night of the crash, addressed the accident on Tuesday after an Instagram post raising money for the surviving victim.
“sending so much love to the families,” the Birds of a Feather singer wrote online. “so heartbreaking.”
The Yeates family said in a statement the “senseless” incident left them “with a hole that will never be filled,” according to the Kansas City Star.
Cunningham was remembered as someone who was passionate about music and cared about his friends.
“He will be so missed,” his mother Shanilla Cunningham wrote on social media, per the newspaper. “Such an amazing person and so proud he’s my baby.”