Mom Mourns Daughter Who Died in Crash Weeks After Getting Engaged to Fiancé, Who Survived (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

(L) Chelsea Cook; (R) Chelsea with her fiancé Evan.Photo:Courtesy of Laurel Summerfield

Courtesy of Laurel Summerfield

The mother of a woman, who was one of five people killed in a two-vehicle crash in Texas over the weekend, says that her daughter had recently gotten engaged to her fiancé, who was injured in the collision, but survived.

Chelsea Cook, 33, died after a crash on Sunday, Oct. 27, that took place on the 3000 block of Northwest Loop 820 Freeway around 3:30 a.m., local time, according to a Fort Worth Police Department news release shared with PEOPLE.

Laurel Summerfield tells PEOPLE that before the crash, her daughter’s 34-year-old fiancé Evan had played a show with his band.

“When the show ended, Evan’s job every time was to take a little trailer and take all the band’s equipment back to the rehearsal space,” Summerfield says. At the time of the crash, she says they were already “on their way back home” and only a mile away from their exit.

In a statement, police said that they believe a “vehicle traveling in the wrong direction….collided with another vehicle which resulted in a vehicle fire and entrapment.”

“The car was right in front of me. You could barely see any of it because there was so much fire. It was engulfed in flames,” a witness told WFAA. “I watched all these first responders going and grabbing crowbars, going and grabbing defibrillators, and coming back with this look on their faces like they knew it was too late.”

The crash remains under investigation.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The couple, both from Fort Worth, got engaged about three weeks ago, Summerfield says.

“We said of course,” Summerfield adds, sharing that Evan, who works as a project manager for a pest control company, ended up popping the question during a trip to Albuquerque.

Summerfield says that her daughter’s “mission in life” was to “build people up,” especially people who she could sense “didn’t have confidence in themselves.”

Asked how she would like her daughter, a travel agent, to be remembered, she pointed towards a comment a loved one made about her daughter on social media.

“I think the most beautiful thing about Chelsea was her ability to show love for others who were unwilling to show love for themselves,” wroteRyan Callahan. “She showed a lot of love to an untold amount of people and reached so many others when they needed her most."

source: people.com