A grandmother unknowingly captured the last moments of her three-year-old granddaughter’s life just minutes before an unthinkable tragedy. The devastating event has since left a family shattered, yet a single photograph now serves as a cherished memory of a beautiful soul lost too soon.
Weeks after her daughter was k!lled in a hit-and-run, the girl’s mother found a photo taken “just seconds” before
In a post on TikTok, Samantha Jensen wrote: “My mom took this picture at 4:47 pm and my daughter’s time of d.eath was 4:52. My mom didn’t know she was capturing the last moments of her life. This one is really hard for me to look at, just knowing what comes next breaks my heart.”
The Tragic Incident
According to devastating reports, Scarlett Jensen was killed in a hit-and-run on October 7, 2022. Along with her 2-year-old brother, Henry, she was being minded by her grandmother as her mother, Samantha Jensen, and father were out of town for a wedding.
Yet something unthinkable happened when the three of them were out walking in the family’s private driveway in Oldtown, Idaho. A Chevy Tahoe came racing down the road, running over Scarlett, her grandmother, and her brother.
“My mother was waving her hands, screaming for him to stop and she tried to grab my children to move them out of the way but he was going too fast,” Samantha Jensen recalled.
“Scarlett passed away almost instantly and my mom and Henry were critically injured.”
The suspect driving the Chevy fled the scene on foot before being apprehended several miles away. He is now serving a ten-year prison sentence.
“Henry was life-flighted to the children’s hospital where they found a fractured spine, six broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, a liver laceration and several other injuries,” Samantha told PEOPLE.
“My mom had several broken bones but was able to be released from the hospital.”
She added: “Henry spent a week in the PICU before he was stable enough to come home, and he had a full body brace on for 10 weeks.”
A Photo That Captures a Lasting Memory
In the weeks that followed, the family was enveloped in grief, but there was one small moment of reprieve when Samantha found a seemingly innocuous photo her mother had taken of Scarlett shortly before her death.
“My mom lost her phone when they were hit and it took us a while to find it, so when we finally did I was going through pictures and found that one,” Jensen says. “I looked at the timestamp and realized it was only five minutes before she declared time of d.eath, so it must have been taken seconds before the person hit them.”
According to PEOPLE, the image in question was taken when Scarlett’s grandmother had taken her two grandchildren out to get ice cream.
“When they arrived home to our back driveway, Scarlett wanted to get out of the stroller to pick flowers,” Samantha explained. “That’s when my mom took the last picture I have of her alive.”
The heartbroken mother explained that her days now differ. Some are naturally tougher than others, but the family is doing its best to tackle their enormous grief.
“Some days, it feels like I am drowning, and some days I am able to tread water,” she told PEOPLE. “My whole family is putting in a lot of work in therapy and trying to heal as much as possible. My faith in the Lord has saved my life and helped me tremendously in my healing journey.”
At first, the devastated mother found it difficult to look at the final picture of her little girl. 2 years on from her passing, though, Samantha came to realize that the image is a token of a beautiful life.
“I am so incredibly thankful to have that photo,” she told PEOPLE. “It captures the peaceful feeling of her last moments, the beauty she was surrounded by when she took her last breaths. I will forever picture her happy and carefree, picking flowers with her best friend and Meemaw.”
A Lasting Tribute
Scarlett’s story is a painful reminder of how fragile life can be. Her memory now lives on in the hearts of her family, and her mother hopes that by sharing their story, others may cherish every moment with their loved ones.
May Scarlett rest in peace.