Brian Trumble texted and called his daughters several times Aug 1 when they hadn’t made it home from an outing in Rochester.
Neither answered.
As his worry grew, Trumble used Find My Friends to track his daughters’ iPhones. Their location said they were three miles away from home.
Trumble hopped into his car and drove to the intersection of Ira Hill Road and Farnam Road in Ira. The roads were blocked off by deputies, he said.
“An officer asked what I was doing, what I was looking for,” Trumble said. “I told him I was looking for my daughters.”
Hailey Trumble, 19, and her sister, Shelby, 17, were both killed in a crash in Cayuga County on Thursday. They were coming home from a day spent at Seabreeze Amusement Park, according to their father.
“It’s a tremendous loss,” Brian Trumble told syracuse.com. “It’s never going to be the same again.”
The sisters’ parents, who are divorced, both described Hailey and Shelby as simple, country girls who loved animals and being outdoors. They were into crafts and often painted each other’s nails. They liked watching Gilmore Girls and Heartland.
Living in Hannibal, they spent time camping, fishing and being outside, their mother, Tina Trumble said.
Their mother said she remembers when Shelby was in elementary school, she would hop off the school bus and run straight to the pond.
“She’d run down this dirt road to the pond that was out back, in like the middle of a cornfield, and go fishing, every day,” Tina Trumble said.
The sisters also loved fishing with their older brother Riley, their father said. The three would find any fishing hole or creek they could in Phoenix and Fulton.
“They could never go fishing without a bunch of snacks,” Trumble said. “Riley would come pick them up, and they’d always run to Walmart first.”
Their love for animals started young, Tina Trumble said. They all spent time on their grandparents’ farm, caring for the cows and pigs.
The family also had cats and dogs and once even took in a pet raccoon, their mom said.
As teenagers, the sisters would walk to a pasture near their home to see horses and would always pack a few carrots and apples to feed them, Brian Trumble said.
Shelby worked at Reeves Farm Stand in Baldwinsville and Hailey was to start a new job Monday, working at a daycare, Brian Trumble said.
Shelby graduated in June, and Hailey graduated in June of 2023, according to Christopher A. Staats, superintendent of the Hannibal Central School District.
Shelby had just completed the Oswego County BOCES Cosmetology program, Staats said. Hailey completed the Digital Media program while in Hannibal, he said.
Hailey and Shelby were also care givers to those around them, their dad said. They spent a lot of time with their stepsisters, Addison and Ciana, he said. And they always made sure to check on their father during tougher times, he said.
But the sisters loved to tease and make others laugh, both parents said.
Their father described the girls as sweet and kind, yet always “picking on” and “ball-busting” their dad. He said the girls were goofballs and always made him, and each other, laugh.
Tina Trumble said Shelby was a very funny – and honest– kid.
“You didn’t have to wonder where you stood with Shelby, she’d tell you,” she said with a laugh.
But they also made friends fast, she said. They never wanted to exclude anyone and made sure to always treat others with kindness. She says losing them is the hardest thing she’ll ever go through.
“They were everything that you wish you could be,” Tina Trumble said. “So full of life. They were loved and so beautiful.”
Brian Trumble said Hailey was excited to come home Thursday to see her new kitten.
She and her sister Shelby were volunteers at the CNY Cat Coalition. They had just rescued two kittens – named Smokey and Bandit – who were tossed out of a car window. Hailey’s kitten needed an amputation from the incident and was expecting to see it after their trip to Seabreeze, Brian Trumble said.
But the sisters never made it home.
Hailey and Shelby will be cremated together, Brian Trumble said. He said the family plans to spread their ashes in places that were special to the sisters’ and their family.
“One thing that I have taken away from all this that it gives me some kind of peace – it makes me happy that they were together,” Brian Trumble said. – Syracuse.com/Tribune News Service
