A NEWLYWED’s final Facebook praised her “king and loving” husband – three days before they were both killed in a horror limo crash on the way to her birthday party.
Amy and Alex Steenburg were among 20 people killed in upstate New York on Saturday when their limousine lost control on a steep hill and ploughed through a shop’s car park where two bystanders were hit.
All 18 people in the stretch Ford Excursion SUV limo died in one of the deadliest road accidents in US history including Amy’s three sisters and their husbands who were in the rented vehicle on their way to her 30th birthday celebrations.
In her last Facebook post, Amy posted a gushing message about her “amazing” husband Axel.
She wrote: “I just wanted to say Axel Steenburg I love you more than words can say.
“You are such an amazing man and entertain all my crazy ideas. Even when I move a couch just to move it back to the original place.
“Thank you for being so kind and loving xo.”
Witness Linda Riley said the crash sounded like an “explosion” as the limo lost control and smashed into an unoccupied parked car.
According to reports, the limousine was travelling at around 60mph when it crashed into the two pedestrians – killing them both.
The four sisters killed in the crash were identified by their aunt Barbara Douglas as Abigail Jackson, Mary Dyson, Allison King and Amy.
Barbara told the New York Post: “One just got married and that’s what this was – her new husband was giving her a surprise birthday party.
“They were beautiful girls, full of life. They had their whole lives ahead of them.
“One of them had two children. One of them had one child.
“I have five nieces, and now four of them are dead.
“My brother and his wife are just overwrought. I don’t know how to say it.
“Can’t wrap your head around such a tragedy where you have four of your daughters die.”
The group actually hired a bus to take them to party which broke down resulting in them taking the doomed limo instead, it has been reported.
According to the Washington Post, one of the victims texted her sister to tell her the stretch limousine was in a “terrible condition” 20 minutes before the fatal crash.
According to her aunt, Erin McGowan sent a text saying: “The vehicle appeared in terrible condition.”
Erin, 34, and Shane McGowan, 30, who got married in June, were also named among the victims by their heartbroken family.
Erin’s dad Anthony Vertucci said the family had been hit by “darkness and devastation” after an “unspeakable tragedy”.
He wrote on Facebook: “I don’t even know what to say… just darkness and devastation for my family, Shane’s family and all of the families involved. My heart has stopped.
“Unspeakable tragedy that I can’t comprehend and will never come to terms with.”
Lester Andrews, 60, paid tribute to his two stepsons Axel Steenburg, 29 and Rich Steenburg, 34, and daughter-in-law Amy.
He told The New York Times: “They rented the limo with some families and I don’t know exactly what they were doing.
“There’s just a lot of confusion, so many people died.
“Their mother is looking for some answers. She wants to know what happened to her sons.”
Her sister Abigail Jackson had had two children, Archer, four, and Elle who was just 16-months old with husband Adam.
Friends have set up a GoFundMe page for the two young children.
Local officials told the Times Union that a limo speeding down a hill hit bystanders on Saturday afternoon at the Apple Barrel Country Store in Schoharie, about 170 miles north of New York City.
Local resident Bridey Finegan said: “I saw a lot of people here at the Apple Barrel out in the parking lot. Then I heard screaming.
“Then I saw this large van, a very unusual looking vehicle out here in Scoharie in the bushes and really wrecked, hit a tree.”
She added: “The first responders broke some windows to try to get people out. I believe the jaws of life were here on the side of one of the fire trucks.”
Customers in the car park were killed when they were hit by the limo coming down a hill on state Route 30 at high speed,” the store manager, Jessica Kirby, told The New York Times.
She said: “That limo was coming down that hill probably over 60 miles per hour.
“I don’t want to describe the scene,” she added. “It’s not something I want to think about.”
Police captain Richard O’Brien said: “This is a two-vehicle, multi-fatality investigation.
Eyewitnesses say the limo went through the intersection, hitting an unoccupied 2015 Toyota Highlander and pedestrians before going into a ditch.
Shop owner Jessica Kirby said: “Out here most of the people that came yesterday were volunteers.
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https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7438648/new-york-limo-crash-victims-newlywed-messages-husband/
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