SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. — Chelsea Favreau, 21, and her friend Taylor Wolfe, 24, were killed January 12 when the pick-up truck they were riding in ran off Robert E. Lee Drive in Spotsylvania, struck a tree, overturned into a ditch, and caught fire, according to sheriff’s deputies.
It was Favreau’s 21st birthday.
The pick-up truck driver, Taylor’s friend and roommate 26-year-old Brandon Alexander Shunamon, of Spotsylvania County, was drunk and speeding, investigators said.
He is in jail, charged with two counts of DUI aggravated involuntary manslaughter.
Favreau’s father called his daughter a vibrant soul.
“[Her] presence and uplifting personality was infectious,” Jamie Favreau said. “The sheer number of people who have reached out to us, is simply amazing; I had no idea she had touched so many. We ask that people not mourn in sadness, but celebrate her life and her memory, that’s what she would have wanted.”
Wolfe was the father of two children. His fiancee Cortnee Smith is expecting their daughter in March.
“I just miss him more than anything in the world and I’m sad I will no longer be able to experience a future with the love of my life,” she said. “[I am] so very deeply heartbroken that I won’t get to see him raise his four-year-old son, his one-year-old daughter and his soon-to- be little girl Arianna.”
Both Chelsea and Taylor’s families have set-up GoFundMe accounts to help offset unexpected funeral costs.