‘Don’t take life for granted’

Three families left to ‘live out their worst nightmares’ after fatal motorcycle crash

Steven Shearer, 25, and Edward Benway III, 30, were soon going to have a bond that went beyond fishing and riding motorcycles together as friends. They were supposed to become brothers-in-law, marrying into the large Walters family.

But one fatal crash stopped those plans, leaving three families riddled with grief.

Shearer, his fiancee Cortney Walters, 28, and Benway were riding motorcycles Wednesday night on Interstate 595 and died after a multi-vehicle crash that involved an off-duty Broward Sheriff ’s Office deputy. They are survived by parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins, friends and their young children.

“This news has left three families to live out their worst nightmares, mine included. I don’t even know what to say,” wrote Shearer’s cousin Serena Shearer in a Facebook post Friday. “Don’t take life for granted, and hold your loved ones tight.”

Deputies responded to a call about the crash about 10 p.m. on Interstate 595, one half-mile east of Interstate 95, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

Shearer and Walters, on their 2009 Yamaha motorcycle, and Benway, on a 2007 Suzuki motorcycle, collided while riding about 65 mph west on I-595. The two motorcycles fell onto the ground, and all three riders were catapulted through the air, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Investigators believe Benway was checking on Shearer and Walters when he was hit by an off-duty deputy driving an unmarked 2020 silver Dodge Durango. The Sheriff ’s Office is investigating the details of the crash.

Deputy Michael Colantuno was on his way home after working a shift at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when he hit Benway. Colantuno has no record of discipline or traffic issues at the Sheriff’s Office, officials say. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center with minor injuries.

Cathy Walters said Shearer and her daughter Cortney have two daughters, Caylee Skye, 3, and Rylee Jade, 10 months old. She said Benway has one son Grayson, 1, and a baby on the way with another daughter Joni Walters.

“It’s horrific, the domino effect of every

thing. It’s just how near seconds can impact the trajectory of so many lives,” Cathy Walters said.

The lives of Shearer, Walters and Benway had all been intertwined for years, family members said.

Cortney Walters’ sister Katelynn Walters, 26, knew Shearer for many years before he started dating Cortney. She met Shearer in the sixth grade and the two were fast friends, she said. Shearer had been in her life ever since, eventually pairing up with her older sister Cortney. “He went from a friend to family,” said Katelynn Walters.

Cathy Walters said she would have never imagined longtime family friend Shearer would end up being a son-in-law. “When they reconnected and they got together, that was it. They hit it off right away. They were just inseparable,” she said.

Shearer and Walters’ daughter, Caylee, was born many weeks prematurely with several health issues, said Walters’ oldest sister, Cybil Gault, 43. Gault said her sister refused to let that hinder her or her daughter’s positive outlook on life.

“I know she had her rough days, but we were so impressed by her strength and just the fight she had in her for her daughter,” Gault said. “That was exactly Cortney.”

A Facebook post from just over a month ago shows a proud Walters embracing 3-year-old Caylee in the hallway of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, celebrating a tracheostomy tube being removed from her daughter’s throat. It was a day the family had long anticipated, and Walters wrote that she was excited for their future.

“Now we are ready to take on the world,” she wrote.

Family has vowed that the girls will grow up knowing how much their parents cared for them. Gault said she can already see her sister’s “spunk” in Caylee.

“She just was so young and had so much life in her,” Gault said. “We’re just still processing it. Even though we know it’s true, we still can’t believe it.”

Benway worked hard to be the support system for his fiancee Joni Walters and their son, Cathy Walters said.

“For Joni, she’s grieving the loss of Eddie [Benway], and she’s grieving the loss of her sister,” she said.

Cathy Walters described Benway as a hard worker who was mentally strong. He had a sense of humor and appetite for life, she said.

“That’s where the bikes came in,” she said. “He loved that motorcycle.”

Kate lynn Walters recalled the day Benway met the family. He acted as if he was already one of them, she said.

“When I came home to meet him, he came over and I just remember he sat on my mom’s lap and I will never forget that,” Katelynn Walters said. “I knew he was here to stay.”

Lindsay Few, 28, of Fort Lauderdale, remembered meeting Walters in kindergarten at Lloyd Estates Elementary in Oakland Park. All these years later, Few said she still remembers getting home from school every day and immediately calling her friend.

Few said one particular memory from their first year of school stuck when she accidentally took Walters’ blue bracelet home with her. It became an inside joke between them.

They lost touch throughout the years and rekindled in ninth grade when they had class together once again. It was like no time had passed, and Few said that spoke to Walters’ radiant energy.

“She always made me feel special. You don’t find that a lot. She always made me feel loved when we would speak and talk about our little memories,” Few said.

Few saw Walters and Shearer at the hospital the day their first daughter was born. She described them as kindred spirits.

“Both of them together, they had an attractive energy. They’re just very friendly, accepting, loving, just radiant people,” Few said.