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Crash Kills Children

February 1, 2006

An accident occurred last Wednesday in which a 20 month old as well as 6 relatives were killed in a crash. One of the children killed was Barbara Mann. Mann's father, upon hearing the news of his daughter's death, suffered a heart attack and died.

Investigators are trying to piece together how the three-vehicle accident happened on a clear day on a road free of obstructions.

A tractor-trailer rear-ended the children's car and crushed it against a school bus that had stopped to drop off students, authorities said.

The car burst into flames, and everyone inside was killed, including 15-year-old Nicky Mann, who was driving illegally with just a learner's permit and was apparently taking her adopted siblings home from school. Three children on the bus were seriously injured.

Along with Nicky, who was the Manns' biological child, and soon-to-be-adopted Anthony Lamb, the other victims were identified by authorities and friends as three children adopted by the Manns - Elizabeth, 15; Johnny, 13; and Heaven, 3 - and the couple's nieces, Ashley Keen, 13, and Miranda Finn, 8.

Authorities had originally identified the victims as seven adopted brothers and sisters.

'Even though she was an underage driver, it's my understanding she did not cause the accident,' Mann said. 'The same thing would have happened had there been an adult in the car with her. We'd just have one more death in the family.'

Charges were pending against the 31-year-old truck driver, Alvin Wilkerson of Jacksonville. He suffered minor injuries.

The Florida Highway Patrol initially reported that there were no brake marks on the highway to indicate the trucker tried to stop. But David Rayburn of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators have not determined that yet.

Authorities were looking into whether the truck had a mechanical failure or the driver was tired or talking on a cell phone. Also, a sample of Wilkerson's blood will be tested for alcohol.

The trucker was cited in 2000 for driving with a suspended license and twice, in 2000 and 2001, for operating a vehicle in unsafe condition, according to state officials.

The highway is straight and flat in the area. Four fatal crashes have occurred along that part of the road over the past five years, Burroughs said.