Parents of North Port teens killed in crash speak about the girls’ legacies

ABC7 News at 6pm
Published: Nov. 22, 2022 at 7:16 PM EST

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Two parents are living every parent’s worst nightmare.

On Tuesday Eva and John, had to bury their daughters, 17-year-old Sophia and 16-year-old Nicole. The family asked ABC7 not to post their last names.

“It’s terrible, we lost our girls, I miss them so much, they didn’t deserve to die this young,” said John, the dad of the girls.

The girls were tragically killed in a car crash last Wednesday night on Sumter Boulevard in North Port. A makeshift memorial continues to grow at the site. As family, friends and the entire community continues to mourn, they are being remembered as beautiful and sweet girls.

“They had a gift to everybody they met, every time they smiled at someone or they laughed with someone, it was their gift,” said Eva.

They are planning to keep the memories of Sophia and Nicole alive with some sort of permanent memorial. Eva and John will also be pushing for safer roads.

“I would like to see these roads lit up at night, these roads are so dark in the city of North Port without these lights on,” said John.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family. They are so grateful how the community has come together for them.

“People have been so generous, people I had never heard of in my life donating to the GoFundMe.”

If you would like to help, you can click on this https://www.gofundme.com/f/nicole-sophia-rathgeber.