Family and friends are mourning a woman who died in a wrong-way crash in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH, Texas (KWTX) – We’re learning more about the two people who were involved On Sunday, there was an accident on Loop 820 against traffic, in which five people died.

Evan Ranallo and Chelsea Cook were riding home on the 820 early Sunday morning. Ranallo plays guitar and his band had performed just a few hours earlier. They were almost home when tragedy struck.

“They were about a mile from the exit and they were hit head-on and the car was going the wrong direction,” said Laurel Summerfield, Chelsea Cook’s mother.

Fort Worth police say the wrong-way driver of a Ford Focus hit Ranallo and Cook’s pickup truck head-on. Ranallo survived, but underwent multiple surgeries and remains at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth. The cook died on the spot. Summerfield accompanies her daughter’s fiancé as he recovers from surgery.

“It just seems unfair, very unfair,” Summerfield said. “She was a huge star, anyone who knew her will tell you that. She was simply the greatest personality, a total extrovert, a child of the theater. She just had so much left to do.”

The couple was just starting their life together. Ranallo proposed to cook in New Mexico just weeks before the disaster.

“Even before they got engaged, she was like a sister to us, she was the light in our family and gave us so much joy and fun,” said Rachel Ranallo, Evan’s sister. “It was hard and I’m more heartbroken for Evan because she was the love of his life.”

Friends and family of Ranallo and Cook are uniting to support each other in the face of this tragedy.

“You know, our family promised Chelsea that we wouldn’t curl up in a ball and give up and let this ruin us,” Summerfield said.

Families are also grappling with the reality that they may never find out why the driver made a wrong turn on Loop 820. A family of four, including two children, also died in the crash.

“Like everyone else, we made a number of assumptions that these people were drunk or really young and we were really shocked to discover that it was a family with two minors. It definitely made it worse in some ways,” Summerfield said.

Fort Worth police are still working to determine what caused a driver to enter the highway going the wrong direction.

The families now hope their tragedy will serve as a reminder to other drivers.

“Be careful, make the right decisions, think about what you can do. (It) could impact not only your family but many other families,” Summerfield said.

Evan’s band “So Long Good Night” will host a benefit concert with all proceeds going to the Ranallo and Cook families. The concert will take place on December 14 in Hurst.