3-year-old twins, mother killed in car crash after leaving day care

ROCK HILL, S.C. (WBTV/Gray News) – A mother and her 3-year-old twin daughters were killed in a car crash after leaving a South Carolina day care.

Investigators said 30-year-old Tionese Hughes and her daughters Mackenzie and Mariah Hughes were killed in the crash Friday evening.

The family was leaving Right Choice Child Development Center in Rock Hill when an oncoming car crossed the center line of Saluda Road and crashed into the Hughes’ car, officials said.

The driver of the other car, 39-year-old Kristen Agard, also died.

Staff members at the day care have created a memorial in honor of the 3-year-old girls and their mother.

Sidnetrice Williams, the CEO of Right Choice Child Development Center, said the twins attended the day care since they were 9 months old.

Williams described the sisters as “a bundle of joy, saying they acted like “two little women.”

Day care staff said that it was difficult on Monday to return to work and explain to the other children what happened to Mackenzie and Mariah, but they’re determined to keep their memory alive.

Nikki Grier, the executive director of Right Choice, said they painted the large rocks in front of the day care the twins’ favorite colors.

“We’ve had those rocks out here since we opened and never did anything with them, so we painted the rock their favorite colors, and we just plan to come out and love on each other,” Grier said.

Macaroni art projects made by Mackenzie and Mariah will forever hang up inside the day care, along with an empty cubby marked with a bow.

“We never thought that Friday would be the last time we saw those babies and their mom,” Williams said.

Williams said the twins were always one of the first students to arrive every day, and their mother played a big part in their development at the school.

“She was very involved in the program. She was very involved in their academic success. She was a hard-working mom. She had four kids,” Williams explained.

Heartbroken to know the girls and their mother will no longer walk through the front doors again, the day care community hopes safety improvements will be made to the road.

“In reference to the road they were killed on, it needs to be a change. It’s a two-way lane; it needs to be extended,” Williams said.

The day care is dedicating March 22 as “M&M Day” for Mackenzie and Mariah.

“So we will always, always remember them,” Willams said.

Agard, the woman who investigators say caused the crash, has faced multiple DUI charges before.

At this time, investigators say it’s too early to know if alcohol played a factor in this crash, but the York County Coroner’s Office said a toxicology and pathology report is pending.

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