EDGEWATER, Fla. – Four people, including a child, were killed Friday morning when a car careened into a pond off I-95 in Volusia County, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The crash was reported at 8:35 a.m. on I-95 south near mile marker 235, which is between Scottsmoor and Edgewater.
The victims are Vanyunna Wiggins, 27, of Urbana, Ill., Katie Davis, 67, and Cashundra Wiggins, 32, both of Champagne, Ill., and the name of the child was Caisus Davis, also of Champagne.
Witnesses saw the 2016 four-door Nissan, a rental car, starting to drift off the interstate, troopers said.
"Witnesses just saw (the car) slowly drift over and then, as (the car) went down the embankment, the vehicle overturned into the pond," Montes said. "The witness was very surprised. They actually thought the car was slowly going over, maybe to pull off the side of the road, but it just continued off down off the road and down the embankment. There was no abrupt movements, there was no speeding in their eyes."
Officials said the witness tried to help, but couldn't get to them in time.
"These people that witnessed it did try, but they weren't able to reach the car. The car submerged quite quickly," said Montes.
Troopers unloaded suitcases, a cooler and a car seat from the vehicle, while a wrecker loaded the car onto the flatbed. Officials said they'll now look at autopsy reports to see if the driver suffered a medical condition and learn their driving history.
"Were they familiar with the road? Where did they come from? How long have they been traveling?" said Montes.
But troopers said there might be a possibility that those questions will never be answered.
"There are so many crashes where people die that we never know the exact cause," said Montes.
Volusia County sheriff's divers assisted the FHP in searching the pond.