Dad tracks daughters' phones to crash site where he learns they both died on way home from amusement park

• Brian Trumble said he was texting his daughters Hailey, 19, and Shelby, 17
• When they didn't respond, he used the Find My Friends app to locate them 

An upstate New York father made a heartbreaking discovery after tracking his two teen daughters' phones when they stopped responding on Thursday.

Brian Trumble told Syracuse.com he was texting his daughters - Hailey, 19, and Shelby, 17 - several times when they did not return home from the Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester that night.

He then decided to use the Find My Friends app to track down their whereabouts on his phone and drove just a few miles to the location it showed.

There, he found that his two teenage daughters died in a fatal crash, and Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputies were already cordoning off the area.

'An officer asked what I was doing, what I was looking for,' Brian recounted. 'I told him I was looking for my daughters.' 

The teenagers were riding in a Chevy Cobalt traveling eastbound on Ira Hill Road when their car 'crested a hill and crossed into the opposite lane, striking a second vehicle,' the sheriff's office announced Monday.

'Both Hailey and Shelby Trumble died as a result of the injuries they sustained at the time of the crash.'

The other driver, identified as 59 year old Robin Latham, was transported to Syracuse University Hospital with serious injuries, where she remains in stable condition.

The cause of the fatal collision remains unclear, and an investigation is ongoing even as a memorial was set up on the side of the road for the sisters.

'It's much too early to say exactly what happened, and what caused this crash and what factors were involved,' Sheriff Brian Schneck told CNY Central.

'But we are looking at every piece of evidence that we can.'

He added that officials have not found any evidence that any of the drivers were intoxicated at the time of the crash.

The girls had recently graduated high school, Hailey in 2023 and Shelby in 2024 - completing an Oswego BOCES Cosmetology program.

'It's a tremendous loss,' the girls' father said. 'It's never going to be the same again.'

He and the girls' mother, Tina, described their daughters as simple country girls who loved animals and being outdoors.

Their love for animals began at a young age, as they would spend time on their grandparents' farm, caring for cows and pigs.

The family also had cats and dogs, and once even took in a pet raccoon, Tina said.

As teenagers, the close-knit sisters would also walk to a pasture near their home to see horses - and would always bring a few carrots and apples to feed them, she noted.

The sisters were also volunteers with the CNY Cat Coalition, and had just rescued two kittens - named Smokey and Bandit - who were thrown out a car window, in the days before their deaths.

Hailey's cat needed an amputation, and she was expecting to see it after their trip to Seabreeze on Thursday - but they never returned home.

Brian said he is now seeking solace in the fact that the two girls were together when they died.

'One thing that I have taken away from all this [is] that it gives me some kind of peace - it makes me happy that they were together,' he told Syracuse.com.

The sisters were very close, their parents said, and would often paint each other's nails and watch Gilmore Girls and Heartland together.

They also enjoyed fishing, with Tina recounting how when Shelby was in elementary school, she would hop off the bus and run straight to the pond.

'She'd run down this dirt road to the pond that was out back, in like the middle of a cornfield, and go fishing every day,' she said, noting that they would also include their older brother, Riley.

'They could never go fishing without a bunch of snacks,' Tina said. 'Riley would come pick them up, and then they'd always run to Walmart first.'

The sisters were also described as caring, never wanting to exclude anyone from their activities and making sure to always treat others with kindness and respect.

They would also make sure to check on their dad when times got rough, their parents said.

But they also liked to tease and pick on their father, Brian said, with Tina adding that Shelby was a very funny and honest kid.

'You didn't have to wonder where you stood with Shelby, she'd tell you,' Tina said. 

She said losing her daughters is now the hardest thing she will ever go through.

'They were everything that wish you could be. So full of life,' Tina said. 

'They were loved and so beautiful.'

A funeral service is scheduled for Saturday, and the family is now raising funds to pay for the funeral expenses.

'In this devastating incident, the Trumble family lost two girls at one time as daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces,' the GoFundMe reads.

'From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your kindness, love and support during this heart-wrenching time.'

As of Tuesday evening, the fundraiser had far surpassed its goal of $10,000 - reaching more than $38,000.