DALLAS — Shannon Brothers knew something was wrong before her police ever told her.
Early in the morning of January 13, her phone buzzed with an alert. Her daughter's iPhone detection software thought she was in a crash -- and alerted her emergency contact.
It took hours before Brothers found out her daughter, Kendrella "Keke" Baldwin, died in the early morning wreck on Dallas North Tollway.
"I just hollered," she said. "I don’t remember having a thought. And if I did, I couldn’t tell you what the thought was, I was just numb."
A DPS press release says the crash was reported at about 2 a.m. in the tollway's northbound lanes near Forest Lane.
Officials say Kendrella and a man were driving separately when they crashed. The two had exited their vehicles and were standing in the roadway when they were struck by a third vehicle, according to Texas DPS.
Along with 24-year-old Baldwin, Nathan Hattox, 28, from Addison was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. The third driver was not injured and the investigation is ongoing. No charges have been filed.
"Some people would want me to be mad at the driver, but I’m not," Brothers said. "Because his family is hurting too."
In her family, they tell it like it is. "What other people think is strange about us, is not. We love each other," Brothers said.
She said Keke told it like it was too. "If you didn’t want to know the truth, then don’t ask her," Brothers said.
She described feeling "robbed" losing her daughter so young. "I won't ever get my baby back."
Brothers has started a GoFundMe to raise money to pay for expenses for Baldwin's funeral.