Family devastated at loss of three sisters

UPDATE, 5:27 p.m.: Family members of three sisters killed in a chain reaction crash early Sunday on Interstate 95 remained in stunned disbelief as Florida Highway Patrol investigators sought out answers to what — or who — led to the accident.

The three sisters — 64-year-old Kay Bertha Ferril, Willie Bell Moragne, 66, and Rose Neal, 56 – died in the crushing impact as they were struck by the front end of one vehicle and then hit from behind by another.

Barbara Thomas, 66, was the fourth person in the vehicle and also a sibling. She was seriously injured but is in stable condition today, said Florida Highway Patrol investigators who talked with the family at Holmes Regional Medical Center.

The tragedy was compounded by other recent losses, family members say.

"It's been devastating for all of us," said 40-year-old Tanya Bango of Albany, the sisters' niece. She and other family members are now making arrangements to bury the three sisters just weeks after seeing them for a family gathering during the Christmas holidays.

"I was just with them, they were all here in Georgia. Their mother had nine girls out of 14 children. So the family right now is just trying to hold it together," Bango said.

The funeral arrangements have not been finalized but family members are hoping to have a single service, possibly at a church on Merritt Island. On Facebook, tributes continued to pour in for the women whose family had roots in both Georgia and Cocoa.

"They were all very close," said Harvey Neal, husband of Rose. He praised his wife's dedication to their ailing autistic 29-year-old son and was struggling with the news brought to his door by a highway patrol trooper about 4 a.m. Sunday.

The trip to a casino in south Florida, said Neal, was supposed to give his wife a chance to take a break with her sisters.

Bango talked about the women and how they shared their insights with other family members and the community at-large. "These sisters were extraordinary and very close knit. They were just wonderful people. Aunt Ruby (Willie Bell Moragne) had one daughter but she was a second mom to a lot of people," Bango said, pointing out that Moragne also worked at NASA as a supply clerk for 20 years before retiring.

"Kay Bertha was a caretaker and she was always the one who would step in and take care of you if you were sick. My aunt Rose was also a caretaker who kept everything clean and neat. I know how they were…because when my 15-year-old son Javon Jones was suffering from brain cancer, they were all there for me."

Javon died in 2008. Bango said the family lost another aunt, Alice Mae Hampton, 72, a few months ago.

The tragic crash, which left four other people seriously injured, happened about 1:20 a.m. Sunday near the Fiske Boulevard exit of Interstate 95 in Rockledge. The three siblings were just returning from a day trip to the Miami area.

"They were coming back and were almost home when the crash happened. It's very sad," said Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol, the agency investigating the accident.

Investigators said 39-year-old Leonardo Alvarez-Savageau veered off the darkened roadway in his 2008 Infiniti and struck a guardrail in the median. The Infiniti then spun and smashed into the front of a 2007 Hyundai Elantra head on, killing Ferril, the driver, along with Moragne, and Rose Neal, both of Cocoa. Seconds later, a 2012 Toyota Camry driven by George Cornejo, 25, of Hialeah Gardens, slammed into the back of Hyundai. It's still unclear why Alvarez-Savageau's vehicle hit the median.

"Anytime you have a sudden deceleration like that, even if you are wearing a seat belt, and these ladies were wearing seat belts, you can have fatal injuries. So you have that sudden stop with the first impact and then they were also hit from the rear," Montes said. A fourth vehicle, a 2008 Honda Accord driven by 22-year-old Dimitri Vincent, then struck the debris from the first three vehicles before coming to a stop.

Cornejo and Vincent did not suffer serious injuries.

Charges are pending against Alvarez-Savageau, who was also seriously injured in the collision. Troopers are also monitoring the condition of his passenger, 26-year-old Mary Vanassee. She was in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center where she was airlifted shortly after the crash. Neither Vanassee or a second passenger traveling with Alvarez-Savageau, were wearing seat belts. It was not immediately known if speed was a factor.

For Bango and other family members, the most pressing issue remains mourning the loss of the three women.

"There are no words to describe how important they were to us," Bango said.

Previous story, 10:22 a.m Sunday, Jan. 4: It was supposed to be a quick getaway for 56-year-old Rose Neal and her two sisters, a chance to go to Miami for a little fun before heading back home to care for her ailing 29-year-old son.

Instead, the day trip took a tragic turn as the three sisters — identified as 64-year-old Kay Ferril, Willie Morgane, 66, and Neal — were killed early Sunday in a four-vehicle, chain-reaction crash on Interstate 95, not far from the exit leading to their homes in Rockledge and Cocoa.

A fourth passenger traveling with the women, 66-year-old Barbara Thomas, was critically injured, Florida Highway Patrol investigators reported Sunday.

"They were very close," said Harvey Neal, of the sisters. He learned about the crash about 4 a.m. when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper came to his home in Cocoa to tell him about the wreck just south of the Fiske Boulevard exit.

"She was a caring, stay-at-home mother and was taking care of my son, who recently got a kidney transplant," Neal said of his wife. "My son is autistic and unable to care for himself. She was the only one who cared after him. She loved him. But she finally said she just wanted to get out. They were just coming back from this little gambling trip," said Neal, who raised two children with his wife.

The accident happened about 1:20 a.m. near Fiske Boulevard in the northbound lane of Interstate 95. The lanes were reopened by 7 a.m. All of the cars involved were traveling in the northbound lane.

Florida Highway Patrol investigators said the 39-year-old driver of a 2008 Infiniti, identified as Leonardo Alvarez-Savageau, of Springfield, Mass., veered off the road for an unknown reason and struck a guardrail in the median on the darkened roadway. It was not immediately known if speed was a factor.

"It's still early on in the investigation and there is a lot we don't know right now," said Kim Montes, spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol.

Alvarez-Savageau and his passengers, 26-year-old Mary Vanassee and Shayla Davis, 24, both from Springfield, Mass., were seriously injured in the impact.

Vanassee, whose injuries were more severe, was listed in critical condition at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, investigators reported. Neither Vanassee or Davis were wearing a seatbelt, investigators reported.

Within moments of the Infiniti's impact with with the guardrail, the front end of the Infiniti spun and smashed into the front of a 2007 Hyundai Elantra head on, killing Ferril, the driver, along with Morgane, and Rose Neal, both of Cocoa.

Seconds later, a third car, a 2012 Toyota Camry driven by George Cornejo, 25, of Hialeah Gardens, slammed into the back of Hyundai.

A fourth vehicle, a 2008 Honda Accord driven by 22-year-old Dimitri Vincent, then struck the debris from the first three vehicles before coming to a stop.

Neither Cornejo nor Vincent were seriously injured.

Troopers spent the remaining hours talking to witnesses and collecting evidence in the crash.

"All three of the fatalities were sisters. Right now, we still are not sure if they died from the impact of the first crash or the collision from behind," Montes said.

Harvey Neal said the news about his wife and her sisters was devastating. The two had been married since 1983 and lived in Cocoa. He said his sister-in-law Morgane was retired from Kennedy Space Center. His focus now, he said, was working to find help for his son. "She loved him to death. She was with him every day," he said.

Charges are pending, the FHP said.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, Twitter.com/jdgallop or jdgallop@floridatoday.com.