APPLETON — Sophie Sullivan and Audrie Stephens were best of friends, and now family members have launched a GoFundMe account to help with expenses following the Easter weekend crash that killed both women.
Authorities say Sullivan, 21, and Stephens, 20, died in a crash Saturday, April 16, 2022 near Wausau as they were traveling to the Appleton area from their home in Minneapolis, according to a news release from the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office.
A woman in a separate vehicle also died in the crash, and a man who stopped to help was hit by a passing vehicle and injured.
Sullivan’s brother Tristan writes in the GoFundMe that he hopes to raise funds so they can make this process as easy as possible for the two families.
“If we could pay for their outstanding obligations, funeral costs, and service expenses that would help a lot,”reads the GoFundMe. “If we could raise enough where both families could maybe create some kind of memorial, marker, or symbol that they could remember the two girls by, that would be even better.”
Sullivan and Stephens were best friends, Tristan Sullivan wrote.
“Anybody who knew Sophie knew she was a candle in the dark; she was the person people came to lean on. She had a smile for miles and so much energy. She was ferociously protective of her family and the people she cared about. And she cared about Audrie.”
As of Tuesday morning, the GoFundMe had raised nearly $3,000 of its $40,000 goal.
.
.
.
