Community Coping With Loss

People are trying to cope with the tragic loss of four members of the Vollmer family.  The deadly crash happened Saturday afternoon on Interstate 90 just west of Sioux Falls.

Since then, those who knew them have been in mourning but are trying to stay strong for the daughter left behind.

It’s not often that a loss of this magnitude happens in South Dakota. But when it does, it can be heartbreaking for the community. Captain Kevin Joffer with the South Dakota Highway Patrol is now in charge of figuring out what happened.

"Around 5:15 on Saturday, the Vollmers were east bound on I-90.  The vehicle left the road it hit what's called a guard rail cable," Joffer said.

Neighbor Chris Klein is still trying to put together the pieces.

"Shock, you know. It's still surreal," neighbor Chris Klein said.  You see a car sitting in the driveway and you just assume somebody's home, you know." 

"We don't have a lot of them where the entire family, except for the surviving daughter that goes to college. You don't have these situations often, which is good, but they do happen unfortunately," Joffer said.

The one surviving family member, Brittany, is a student at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. Students there are trying to come to grips with what happened.

"So, it was really hard to understand what it was like because losing our own parents and siblings would be terrible. I can't even comprehend what it'd be like to lose my family," Northwestern College senior Kayla Johnson said. 

Now neighbors are coming together to start the process of moving forward.

"We'll do whatever we can for her," Klein said.  "The nicest family you could imagine and now they are not here." 

Authorities are still trying to piece the crash together.  If you happened to be on I-90 and saw it, please contact the Highway Patrol.