On Saturday, March 19th, at approximately 4:51 P.M. The Tazewell County Coroner’s Office was contacted to respond to a two vehicle accident at the intersection of Townline and Locust Roads in rural Tremont. At 5:51 P.M. Tazewell County Coroner Charles R. Hanley pronounced 22 year old Ashley Embree and her 16 year old sister, Sarae Embree, deceased at the scene. Both victims are residents of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.  A recent CI Proud article quotes Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower as saying that the UTV the sisters were riding in “ran a stop sign and collided in the intersection with a pickup truck that was traveling eastbound on Townline road.” 4 other people involved with the accident, including the driver of the UTV and the pickup truck, were transported to OSF St. Francis Medical Center.

According to the GoFundMe set up for the surviving members of the Embree family, 2 year old RJ is currently on life support after suffering a traumatic brain injury in the crash. As of this writing, the GoFundMe account has raised almost $20,000. Other Embree family members were treated for concussions and other injuries, but have since been released from the hospital.  In a Facebook post dated Wednesday, March 23rd, the mother of the deceased, Katie Embree, said about her daughters - “Our beautiful girls - they loved DEEPLY. The ripple effect of the JOY they brought to those around them continues to grow.  Let us all make beauty from these ashes and LOVE as our girls would want.  Love your people deeply and love God deeply - for Ashley and Sarae.”

A second GoFundMe has been started to help the Embree cover funeral expenses for Ashley and Sarae. Obituaries for the young ladies can be found here and here.

No information has been released about those inside the pickup truck. The Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office could not be reached to comment.