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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Young mother and children die in crash
A young mother and her two children died in a horrific crash on a southern Manitoba highway on Friday morning.
Ashley Wolfe, 22, was reportedly driving her Dodge Caravan eastbound on Highway 3 outside of Manitou around 7 a.m. when the vehicle swerved into the oncoming lane and hit a semi-trailer.
She and her two children, Kaden, 5, and Jillian, 1, were killed.
Wolfe's brother, Tyson Hofer, received a call about the accident early Friday morning while he was driving a truckload of sand to a rural construction site.
"I slammed on the brakes. I couldn't drive for two hours. I was shaking and sweating," he said.
Hofer said his sister was travelling from her home in Clearwater, located about 211 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, to Morden to pick up her mother, Brenda Hofer, for a day of shopping in Winnipeg.
Hofer said he has yet to speak with his brother-in-law, Henry Wolfe. The couple did not have any other children.
Hofer didn't know what caused the crash but supposed his sister reached into the backseat -- possibly to attend to one of her children -- when she swerved into the semi's path, striking its fuel tank.
"I went out to the accident scene. Everything was blocked off. I got a few pictures of the (accident). The vehicle is gone. There's nothing left." he said.
Hofer said he and his extended family are taking the news "very hard" and they've huddled together to comfort each other.
He described his second-youngest sister -- he has six siblings -- as an "awesome" mother.
"She was outgoing, everybody who knew her liked her. She always had a good attitude. She was into the guitar, too," he said.
The driver of the semi-trailer was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said its investigation into the accident is ongoing and faces considerable challenges.
"It will take some time to establish, if we ever can, what happened. Sometimes only the people in the vehicle know what happened," she said.
"This is very difficult for our members. It's always difficult when there are collisions involving children."
The highway was closed for several hours following the accident but was reopened Friday afternoon.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 11, 2012 A5
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