An aspiring 19-year-old model was killed just moments after the last photograph of her was taken.
Fredzania Thompson, a student at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas, had dreamed of starting a career as a model.
Her mother spoke with the eagle and stated that at the time of her death, it was her first-ever photoshoot and the start of her true passion.
“She was more interested in modeling, that’s definitely what she wanted to do,” Hakamie Stevenson said about her daughter’s ambition.
“It’s what she had started to do the day she was deceased.”
Thompson was described as a strong athlete, a hair and makeup expert, as well as a caring companion.
Stevenson said Thompson was her five younger brothers and sisters’ role model.
“She was very helpful to her siblings,” her mom shared. “She was very outgoing and made sure that everything was taken care of with them. She was a leader.”
Not only did the 19-year-old have a close bond with her family, but she was also engaged to 25-year-old Darnell Chatman.
Thompson, who would have turned 20 just days after her death, called her fiancé two weeks before the tragic incident to share the news that she was pregnant.
Chatman recalled her crying happy tears down the phone to him: “She said, ‘You’re going to be a dad again.”
Chatman had a son from a previous relationship whom Thompson had a close bond with as his stepmother. The 25-year-old reported that his son was deeply troubled by the loss of her.
Chatman described her: “Zanie had the most beautiful smile, I believe she would want everyone to know what a kind and caring person she is.”
Thompson was killed in Navasota while posing for photos, her family shared an image taken of her just before she died.
The photo, taken by a friend, shows the 19-year-old posing confidently, smiling in an all black outfit and large black high heels.
Thompson had been taking part in the photoshoot on a train track. Witnesses told investigators she was standing where two train tracks meet.
Police said one set of tracks belonged to BNSF and the other to Union Pacific. Thomson was standing between the tracks and watching for an oncoming train from BNSF with her back turned toward an oncoming Union Pacific train.
According to local reports, the train driver who hit Fredzania tried to warn her as he approached.
Jeff De Graff of Union Pacific, a spokesman for the company, said: “Apparently, there was a photo session being held on the tracks.
“As the train approached, the crew saw the photographer and the other individual on the tracks, alerted them with the train horn, and also began the emergency stopping process on the train.”
Witnesses said she tried to cross the Union Pacific tracks to avoid the BNSF train and was hit by the Union Pacific train.
Heartbreakingly, Thompson died whilst en route to the hospital.
According to injurny fact, in 2023, 995 people died in railroad-related incidents in the U.S.
