My daughter was a passenger who was killed when she fell out of a moving truck at 2:30 a.m. on July 7, 2007. Sadly, she and the other passengers, along with the driver, had all been drinking at the time.

Chandra was the second oldest of eight kids. She had a full time job and was excited to have just bought her first car. In fact, the day of her crash, Chandra had made her first car payment. She was also making plans to attend ITT Tech in Arizona in the next few weeks.

By sharing Chandra’s story I hope that it will awaken teens to the danger in which they place themselves when they drink and use drugs. Chandra’s death not only affected us, it affected our whole community. Friends still visit her grave and leave mementos.