Raleigh mom, 4 young children die in fiery crash on I-95 in Georgia during trip to see husband
RALEIGH, N.C. (WSAV/WNCN) — A 27-year-old North Carolina mother and her four young children were killed Sunday morning in a Georgia crash after leaving Raleigh, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
The two-car crash happened around 6 a.m. along Interstate 95 near exit 67 in McIntosh County, about 35 miles south of Savannah, Georgia.
The crash happened in the southbound lanes when the SUV containing the mother and children collided with a car also headed south, officials said.
The SUV with the family inside burst into flames following the crash, officials said.
According to Georgia State Troopers, 27-year-old Reagan Dougan and her four children, ages 9, 4, 2, and 3 months, died.
Sunday afternoon, family members told CBS 17 that the Dougans are North Carolina residents.
Dougan rented a new-style Jeep Grand Cherokee in Raleigh and was driving to Florida to meet her husband, who has been notified, Georgia officials said.
Reagan Dougan's family said she was taking the children to meet up with her husband, who was visiting friends in Florida.
The passenger in the other vehicle, a white Infiniti sedan, was taken to the hospital. There was no word about that person's condition.
Video from the scene showed a burned car crashed beside a median guardrail under an overpass. Images indicated a white car stopped in the center lane nearby with heavy rear damage.
The wreck happened while the Jeep SUV was traveling south in the left lane, said Georgia State Trooper Christopher Ashdown.
A witness in a car that was passed by the SUV said it was ' traveling at a high rate of speed,' Ashdown said.
The SUV then crashed into the rear of the sedan with the SUV bursting into flames following the crash, he said.
'Seeing how hard the impact was obviously caused the SUV to ignite,' Ashdown said.
The sedan hit a center guardrail and then stopped in a travel lane, he said.
The southbound lanes of I-95 were closed for several hours.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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