Many family and friends gathered for a vigil Sunday evening to mourn the loss of a 17-year-old girl who was found dead Friday inside a submerged car in a Nassau County retention pond.
According to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, a silver Ford Mustang crashed through an area of signage and fencing into the retention pond while traveling on Wind Chime Lane, which is a dead-end road near U.S. 1.
The victims of the crash were identified as a 23-year-old man driver and a 17-year-old girl named Mara, who was a junior at West Nassau High School.
“Mara was a free spirit, and she had a lot of curiosity and had no fear,” one person said at the vigil.
The teen’s friends remembered her as a little sister to them. At the candlelight vigil, people shared memories of Mara and placed flowers and balloons on the fence.
Mara’s aunt, Cheyenne Leggett, said she was a hard worker and that her niece was her role model.
“She worked six days a week. She worked hard. She was a great friend,” Leggett said. “She had her life figured out before she even had to start doing any of it. I’m really proud of her.”
The sheriff’s office said it discovered the car in the pond after people who live nearby noticed damage to the fence and went to check it out.
Mara just celebrated her 17th birthday four days before the crash.
The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate.