BROADUS — Monday was the first day back at school for Broadus students since classmates Cale and Caty Emmons died last week in an accident on Highway 212 west of town.
Thursday morning, 15-year-old Cale was driving Caty, 13, and their other two sisters to school in an older model Chevrolet Camaro. According to the Montana Highway Patrol, Cale moved over to the westbound lane to pass a flatbed truck and collided with an oncoming semi. He was pronounced dead shortly after. Caty was flown to Salt Lake City but succumbed to life-threatening injuries Friday.
The other two sisters, Caty’s twin Kensi and 11-year-old Karlee, survived the crash, and mom Kimber told Q2 their memory of the event is different from the highway patrol's narrative, though she did not elaborate exactly how. There is an active investigation in progress.
This isn’t the first tragedy Kimber and Brett Emmons have gone through. They lost 8-year-old daughter Kenna to an extremely rare illness on March 13, 2011 - almost 11 years ago to the day of the accident. Doctors told the Emmonses not to have any more biological children, so in 2015, they adopted Caty, Kensi, and Karlee.
Now, just Kensi, Karlee and the Emmons’ oldest son Malachi are left to carry on.
“No mom, no dad, no family should ever have to bury three children," Kimber said in a statement. "It’s beyond comprehension. We are broken. We are empty. We are lost.”
But they are not alone, as evidenced by the hundreds of messages they’ve received. Funeral services for Caty and Cale are set for April 1 at 11 a.m. in the Broadus High School gym.
