Alabama town mourns as funerals planned for 3 high school girls killed in Christmas Day wreck

Published 1:41 pm Saturday, December 28, 2019

Three straight days of funerals are planned in a south Alabama town where three high school cheerleaders died in a wreck on Christmas night.

A service is planned for Saturday afternoon in Geneva for Emilee Fain, followed by another on Sunday for Cassidy Dunn. Annyson Martin’s funeral will be held on Monday.

Services for all the 16-year-old friends will be at the First Baptist Church of Geneva.

The Geneva High School students were in a vehicle that ran off a road and slammed into trees on Christmas night. Another girl was seriously injured in the crash and a fifth wasn’t hurt.

Authorities haven’t said what might have caused the crash, which occurred on a road that crosses the town’s levee. The girls who died were all riding in the front seat, the coroner said.

Russell Clausell, a minister and president of the city school board, said “Christmas will never be the same” because of the girls’ deaths.

“I do know that one of the things that the city has been known for is rallying around a tragedy. We have rallied today and we will continue to rally, we will get through this, we will embrace and love on one another, we will embrace and love on the families,” he said.

Geneva, a town of about 4,400 people, is located near the Florida line more than 100 miles south of Montgomery.