ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — A bizarre car crash left one woman dead and a family looking for answers.
What You Need To Know
Teresa Tysinger Williams was found dead nine hours after a car crash in a tow lot
The time and cause of Teresa's death are still under investigation
Her son, Cole Williams, is facing multiple charges including second-degree murder
The collision report states on June 14 just before 7 a.m., North Carolina State Highway Patrol responded to a single-vehicle crash on Stone Mountain Road near N.C. 135 in Stoneville.
It says Banner Cole Williams was driving a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee when he ran off the right side of the roadway, struck a ditch and then a bank next to a creek.
What no one knew at the time is his mother, 54-year-old Teresa Tysinger Williams, was the front right passenger and was found dead after the collision hours later in a tow lot. She left behind four children.
"This is a mother's worst nightmare. If there ever was one this is it. You come to visit your young daughter's grave. She should be living," emphasized Nellie Nelson, Teresa Williams' mother.
Williams' body was found in the passenger seat of the SUV at McGehee Towing hours after the crash happened.
No one noticed her in the wrecked vehicle registered in her name, despite rescue workers and highway patrol investigating, and two tow truck drivers moving the SUV.
The crash happened at 6:55 in the morning in Stoneville, and the family got worried and reported her missing at 1:27 p.m. Around 3:15 p.m., almost nine hours after the wreck, a paramedic went to the tow lot and discovered her body in the passenger seat covered with clothes and a car seat.
"Was she dead when they towed her in the vehicle? Did she die in the tow yard? Did she die in the wreck? Nobody will tell us anything," questioned Sheila Tysinger, Williams' sister.
Williams' son Cole was driving, and he was out of the vehicle when rescue workers arrived, so the family is wondering why he didn’t tell them his mother was in the SUV.
"I think something happened to my child because she never would have let Cole drive the car, she would have never left home without her pocket book and her phone. Never," Nelson emphasized.
Tysinger and her mother believe someone hurt Williams before the crash happened.
"From what was done to her, it don't seem like that wreck done that," Tysinger explained.
Investigators have charged Cole Williams with second-degree murder, felony death by vehicle, driving while impaired and several other charges, and highway patrol said additional charges related to the collision and death of Teresa Williams are possible.
Nelson emphasizes it's hard enough to lose a child, but she says it's been even more difficult not being able to get help from anyone involved in the investigation.
"Nobody should have to go through this, and no mother should have to call them to find their child, and they find her nine hours later in a hundred and something degree car that's been towed twice," Nelson emphasized.
Back at the gravesite, Nelson clings to the memories of her daughter. Nelson says her daughter was a social butterfly, so they put butterflies with flowers on her tombstone. She says she thinks about her every second of every day.
“I guess I feel connected here, closer to her here. I guess 'cause that's the last place I saw her before they lowered her down," Nelson explained. "I come here, and I have lunch with her. I bring my food and I sit and I eat and I talk to her."
Nelson and Tysinger say their lives are turned upside down, and it's going to be hard to ever fill this void.
"We just want to get her up and take her back home, and that's never going to happen," Nelson emphasized.
"It's been like living a nightmare. It's like we don't have closure. We don't have an answer for anything,” Tysinger added.
They're trying to find justice for Williams and find answers about what caused her death.
"It's been three months, and I don't feel any different. I still hurt. I still cry. I still grieve for her, and I want her back," Nelson said.
The cause and time of Teresa's death are still under investigation, and there's no court date for this case.
The district attorney and highway patrol, who are handling the case, would not comment because it’s an ongoing investigation.