KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two cousins said the love story between Garrett Pritchett and Tesla Brynant was one like they'd never seen. They said everything followed naturally for the couple.
Kim Aultman, a cousin and aunt of the family, said life as they knew it changed in an instant the night of a car crash. On Monday, a car crashed on I-40 East near Strawberry Plains Pike, killing Pritchett and two children — a 3-year-old and a 5-month-old. Brynant survived with severe injuries.
Family members set up a GoFundMe campaign to help Brynant pay bills and bury her family.
"Garrett was the love of her life. They had been together for years, three precious children," Aultman said. "When the crash happened, Tesla was able to get out, she got to her babies, and she knew that they were gone."
Aultman said they were driving for DoorDash that night to help pay the bills.
"They never left each other, wherever one went, all four, all five went," Aultman said.
The fifth member of the family, Hazeleigh, is 3 years old and about to turn 4 years old. Aultman said he was with her father that night, calling it a miracle she was not in the car.
"He has visitation every other Thursday," Aultman said. "If it not had been his weekend, Hazeleigh would have been in that vehicle with them."
Kristie Garrick, a cousin of the family, was in South Carolina when she first found out. She described Garrett as a loving and helpful father. One thing she regrets is that she was unable to visit and meet baby 5-month-old Tristan.
"Losing [Garrett] and his two babies the way that we did, I knew my mama couldn't handle it by herself," Garrick said. "We're trying to raise up as much as we can. She doesn't have the money to bury them, and we're trying to turn every rock over to find it to help her."
It all started with love, and it is continuing with love after the family wrapped its arms and tried to figure out how to help this mother.
Garrick said all proceeds from their GoFundMe campaign are going to the funeral home, and if there's any money left, it will go into an account to help Bryant and her older child until she finds a job. People can also call the Rest Haven Funeral Home in Dandridge to make a donation under Tesla Bryant's name.
"If you could just pray for this family and our family to get through this," Aultman said. "It's going to be the hardest thing we've had to do."