Teen mother dies in Fort Worth crash

A young mother on her way to her grandparents’ house died Sunday evening in a crash.  

Fifteen-year-old Sarah Fortenberry was in the passenger seat of a car with her 5-month-old baby, Serenity, in the back when it happened.

Hayden Garcia, Fortenberry’s fiancé who is also the baby’s 18-year-old father, was driving the vehicle when he ran a red light at the intersection of Jacksboro Highway and Nine Mile Bridge Road in Fort Worth, according to police.

Surveillance video from a nearby convenience store shows a pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer slam into the passenger side of the car.

Fortenberry was pronounced dead at the scene.

Serenity was taken to a hospital in good condition, and her father sustained minor injuries.

“There's people saying I had a green light, there's people saying I had a red light,” said Garcia. “I don't know what the story is, but when I looked up, it was green. It may have been red, but when I looked up it was green.”  

Fortenberry’s family said Sarah was a young mother but very proud of her baby.

“She was a very good mama,” said Lacy Bennett, Fortenberry’s mother. “She was a sweet, loving daughter.”

The family held a candlelight memorial near the accident site Monday evening.

"I loved her so much,” said Garcia. “She was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

He says in an instant, he lost the love of his life and the mother of his baby daughter.

"When I met her, I was in a downward spiral,” said Garcia. “I was on drugs really bad and rehab, and [when] I met her, it all went away. I don't do nothing anymore and she changed me completely.”

Garcia says he'll make sure his daughter knows what a great mother she had, and he says he doesn't blame anyone else for what happened.

"I know they guy who hit us is probably feeling pretty bad and I don't want him to live the rest of his life like this,” said Garcia. “If anybody's to blame, it's me.”