San Diego Union-Tribune

Four family members killed in crash in Okla.

- lyndsay.winkley@sduniontri­bune.com

Zach and Lili Homant, their mother and their grandmothe­r had just spent two weeks together in Ohio and were making the long drive to the children’s home in Vista on Saturday when a wrong-way driver smashed into their car

ach and the two women died on impact. Lili died on her way to a hospital. Now, friends of the family are trying raise enough money so the children’s father, Sam Homant, and stepmother, Melissa, can f ly them home and bury them.

The crash happened about 1:30 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 40 in Canadian County, Okla., local media outlets reported.

The family was headed west in a 2003 Hyundai when an eastbound Jeep smashed into the car and overturned. The Hyundai ended up in the median, where it caught fire. Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials told reporters that the Jeep’s driver, identified as Ashley Ricks, may have been impaired at the time of the crash.

Ricks, the only one to survive, is in critical condition at a hospital.

Friends of the family created a GoFundMe account soon after they learned of the crash to help pay for funeral costs, which would include f lying the bodies back to California. As of Sunday afternoon, nearly $900 of the $6,000 fund goal had been raised.

The children live full time with their father and stepmother, but had taken a vacation with their mother to visit their grandmothe­r in Ohio. Fund organizer and family friend Jean Ball wrote in the GoFundMe account that the two had called their dad every day while in Ohio to share their experience­s. Both were ready to come home and see their father and their friends.

To see the family account, go to gofundme.com and search “Homant Family.”

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