A second person has died in connection with a Sunday morning fatal crash along the Liberty Bridge.
Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office late Wednesday identified the second victim as Jaren Wilkerson, 28, of Duquesne.
A GoFundMe has been setup to help the family with burial expenses.
Its organizer, Peri Lee, described Wilkerson as fun person to be around — always laughing and smiling, and passionate about the music and arts industry. Wilkerson was a loving father, son and brother.
Lee said Wilkerson sustained a traumatic brain injury as a result of the accident.
The medical examiner’s report stated Wilkerson died in a hospital Wednesday, but did not specify cause of death.
The other person who died was Laila Jones, 25, from Baldwin Borough.
A survivor of the crash, Madison Rau, has a long road to recovery, according to her friend Christie Ford.
Ford watched Rau, her employee and friend lie helpless in a hospital bed Tuesday — a breathing tube down her throat and bones broken “from the top all the way to the bottom.”
Rau, 23, survived the three-vehicle crash early Sunday on the Liberty Bridge that shuttered both lanes of the Downtown span for nearly five hours. The car she was in burst into flames.
But, Ford said, no one has told Rau the worst of it. That Jones — the woman Ford described as Rau’s spiritual twin, died in the wreck.
Jones was a single mother.
“I don’t have a single photo that’s just one of them — where you found one, you found the other,” Ford, 41, of Pittsburgh’s South Side, told TribLive on Tuesday. “The dynamic is just never going to be the same.”
Police, firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the crash shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. They found a car engulfed in flames — with Jones, Rau and Wilkerson pinned inside.
Firefighters put out the blaze, and paramedics rushed Rau and Wilkerson to an area hospital in critical condition, a public safety spokeswoman said.
Jones died at the scene.
Police said a man in the second vehicle was not badly injured. A person in the third vehicle was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Neither Jones’ nor Rau’s families returned phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.
Laila made 3
Ford didn’t plan to get close to Rau when she hired the teenager five years ago at her South Side business, Brow Boss Studios. Rau is just two years older than Ford’s daughter.
“I told Maddie, ‘I’m not going to be friends with you. You’re too young,’ ” Ford said with a laugh.
Ford was wrong. The studio’s only two full-time employees grew close. Then they added a third to their group, Rau’s friend Jones.
Ford said Jones “just had this crazy charisma about her.” The trio “loved a Sunday fun day” and regularly attended Pittsburgh Steelers home games, complete with tailgating, Ford said.
The three also attended festivals and went swimming in the Settlers Cabin Park’s wave pool, often with Jones’ 5-year-old son and Rau’s 2-year-old boy. The kids often dubbed the two single mothers “Mom and Dad,” Ford said.
The three women hunkered down with their children — and lots of junk food — in Ford’s South Side home during the Jan. 25 storm that dumped 14 inches of snow on the Pittsburgh area.
They vacationed together last week in Washington, D.C. — “and I was definitely the mom of the group,” Ford said.
On the night of the crash, the group went bowling. Ford said she knew little about the man who joined them — not even his name.
Ford was not in the car at the time of the crash.
Canceled plans
The road ahead is not easy for any of the families affected by the crash.
Ford launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover the cost of Jones’ funeral and support Jones’ orphaned son.
She started a separate fundraising campaign for Rau’s medical bills and “to provide stability for Maddie and her little boy while she focuses on healing.”
Rau does not have health insurance through her job at Ford’s studio.
Things were looking up for Rau. The single mother had moved less than a month ago into her own place, a home on the South Side, Ford said.
Now, the boxes of furniture cluttering the space will go unassembled, she said. The three women also were planning a big St. Patrick’s Day party at the studio. Ford has cancelled it.
Surgeons operated Monday on Rau’s leg, and Ford doesn’t expect her to return to work soon. But she has confidence in the woman she befriended at her East Carson Street shop.
“Maddie has lots of broken bones, from the top all the way to the bottom,” Ford said. “But she’s doing better. And she’s a fighter. She’s definitely a fighter.”
“It’s going to be really hard when I have to return to work without her,” she added. “It’s going to be really hard.”
