Aurora community comes together to honor 17-year-old girl killed in motorcycle crash

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The people of Aurora came together Friday night after four people died in a motorcycle crash on June 3rd. One of which was a 17-year-old girl.

“I was in complete shock,” says Kadence Harris’s cousin Matthew Harris. “I just couldn’t believe it. I mean, you never expect to call like that. And to get it. There’s no way to describe how you feel. There’s so many emotions. It’s like, is it real? I mean, you want to bust down and cry. And so in some ways you even want to change places with them. I mean, I would in a heartbeat.”

Harris and the Owners of Sublime Hippy in Aurora felt there needed to be something good to come out of this tragedy.

“We want to do more. And we arranged this to help the families but also let them know we’re here. But it feels like we know it’s nowhere near enough. But there’s something that we can come up with to help them to let them know we have their backs no matter what,” said Harris.

“When you’re in a traumatic situation, sometimes the best thing is just to be around people that you love, and just have a night where you can breathe,” said the owner of Sublime Hippy Rhonda Brantley. “We just want them to be able to breathe for a night.”

And while they hope to raise hundreds of dollars tonight for Harris’s family, they didn’t have a set goal.

“We just want people to come out and support the best thing we could do,” said Brantley.”

They say Aurora and the surrounding areas have come together to help those who have lost friends and loved ones.

“There are so many events,” said Brantley. “There’s another one tomorrow at Jimmy Mitchell. They’re doing all kinds of rides tomorrow there are two events in Springfield please check it out.”

Theresa Manetzke has been charged with DWI resulting in the death of two or more people after police say she drove the car that crashed into the bikers.

She was taken to the hospital after the crash, and there is a warrant for her arrest. She does have an attorney, and he has already started filing court paperwork, but no court dates have been set.

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