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(Photo Courtesy: Desa Johnson-Walls)<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WICS\/WRSP) -The family of the 15-year-old killed in a Jacksonville car crash are speaking out following her death.<\/p>\n
Adelisa \u201cAddy\u201d Johnson was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Jan. 23 at the intersection of Mount Zion and Gravel Springs roads in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Now, Addy\u2019s parents are speaking out for the first time since her death.<\/p>\n
Addy\u2019s mom, Desa Johnson-Walls, said the night Addy died, she was on her way home from a shopping trip with friends in Springfield.<\/p>\n
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Addy Johnson’s family speaks out about the night she died<\/p>\n
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Johnson-Walls recalled asking Addy to stop for a milkshake before she got home, and Addy said, \u201cI got you mama and I\u2019ll be home in 15 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once 45 minutes passed, Johnson-Walls began checking her Life360 app, where she saw the vehicle Addy was in was going 89 miles per hour.<\/p>\n
She said she texted Addy to tell her friends to slow down, but the text went unanswered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe usually texts me back right away and the speed was 89,\u201d Johnson-Walls said. \u201cThen she became idle. She stayed in one space for like an hour and was not moving, and it was way out in the country where she wasn\u2019t supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson-Walls told us her son\u2019s coworkers informed them there had been an accident, and her son said to check on Addy.<\/p>\n
Addy\u2019s stepfather, Mick Walls, left work and headed to the scene of the crash after being informed she wasn\u2019t at the hospital.<\/p>\n
He said law enforcement wouldn\u2019t allow him to get near Addy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I stayed out there like as long as she\u2019s out there, I\u2019m staying out there. When she goes, I go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since the crash, Addy\u2019s parents said some days have been harder than others, but they\u2019re working to keep her memory alive.<\/p>\n
Addy\u2019s parents said she was the loudest one in the house, waking everybody up at 6:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
But most importantly, they said she had the brightest personality and tried to make time for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything you want in your kid, your child, like she had it all,\u201d both parents said. \u201cShe\u2019s every parent\u2019s dream child.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Addy’s family shares memories of their loved one<\/p>\n
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Addy\u2019s parents said she was a teen who put everyone\u2019s feelings before herself. She was known as a planner who set goals for her future and liked to involve herself in multiple activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe loved playing every sport and wanted to be at every place she got invited to,\u201d Johnson-Walls said. \u201cI\u2019m like, you don\u2019t have time to do all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walls said she loved to play the drums, even if it was at the wrong time of day. He said he will cherish memories of her, even as small as getting ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can hear her getting ice and ice hitting the floor,\u201d Walls said. \u201cI can hear her kicking it under the refrigerator and I\u2019m like, \u2018Pick it up,\u2019 and she\u2019s like, \u2018You heard that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson-Walls said Addy was a big grandma\u2019s girl who would come to her rescue when she needed her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I did something that she wanted and I didn\u2019t do it,\u201d Johnson-Walls said, \u201cshe would text my mom and she would tell on me, \u2018Mom\u2019s not doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The night Addy died, her parents said her friends did a trend called \u201cthe bump,\u201d where teens would drive on hilly roads at a fast speed and see how high their cars could get.<\/p>\n
They found out about the trend after the crash, after seeing Addy talk about it in a text message. Her parents said they were unaware of what it was, and Addy\u2019s friend explained it to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of parents need to know about the bump because we didn\u2019t know what that was,\u201d Johnson-Walls said. \u201cWe just found out after that. There was a text message that she sent to her friends that they wanted to go on the bump and then she would be home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite her tragic death, Addy\u2019s parents said they will continue to do the things she loved to do and keep her legacy alive.<\/p>\n
Addy\u2019s parents said a lot of community members have approached them to share how kind Addy was and the impact she had on their lives.<\/p>\n
Her parents said they are going to set up a memorial at their home to allow Addy\u2019s friends to come and visit.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville community is also rallying behind Addy\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville Superintendent Steve Ptacek said support poured in right away following the crash, with students showing up at a local church to be there for one another.<\/p>\n
There was also a special area at the high school dedicated to students and staff writing cards and letters to the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the art teachers at the high school had drawn just a beautiful painting of Addy,\u201d Ptacek said. \u201cBrought it to the church for students to sign, so we can eventually, when the time is right, give this to the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ptacek went on to say these actions show how much of a positive community Jacksonville is, and he\u2019s proud of the love everyone has shown toward Addy and her family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Photo Courtesy: Desa Johnson-Walls) JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WICS\/WRSP) -The family of the 15-year-old killed in a Jacksonville car crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,634],"class_list":{"0":"post-144409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-local"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}