A grandmother’s impromptu photo has turned into a poignant remembrance of a 3-year-old girl who was hit by a car and killed shortly after the picture was taken.
On TikTok, Samantha Jensen posted the image with the caption, “My daughter passed away at 4:52 p.m., and my mom took this photo at 4:47 p.m. My mother was unaware that she was documenting her final moments. I find it really difficult to look at this one because I know what will happen next, and it makes me sad.”
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Jensen, who hails from Oldtown, Idaho, reveals that on October 7, 2022, she was out of town attending a wedding, while her mother Jamie was keeping an eye on Scarlett and her 2-year-old brother Henry.
“That afternoon they went to get ice cream and enjoy a walk together,” Jensen recalls. “Scarlett wanted to get out of the stroller to pick flowers when they got to our back driveway at home. My mother took the final photo I have of her alive at that time.
A Chevy Tahoe sped down the road as she was strolling in the family’s private driveway, knocking the three of them to the ground.
“My mother was waving her hands, screaming for him to stop and she tried to grab my children to move them out of the way but he was going too fast,” Jensen recalled. “Scarlett was killed almost instantly and my mom and Henry were critically injured.”
The suspect fled the scene on foot and was caught a few miles away, as local news outlets reported at the time. The man is currently serving 10 years in prison, with two years of that time being credited for time spent in court, Jensen tells PEOPLE.
Jensen’s son, meanwhile, was struggling to survive the hit-and-run.
“Henry was life-flighted to the children’s hospital where they found a fractured spine, six broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, a liver laceration and several other injuries,” she told PEOPLE. “My mom had several broken bones but was able to be released from the hospital.”
She goes on: “Henry spent a week in the PICU before he was stable enough to come home, and he had a full body brace on for 10 weeks.”
Jensen claims that she didn’t realize her mother had taken a picture of Scarlett’s last moments for weeks.
“My mom lost her phone when they were hit and it took us a while to find it, so when we finally did I was going through pictures and found that one,” Jensen recounts. “I looked at the timestamp and realized it was only five minutes before her declared time of death, so it must have been taken seconds before the person hit them.”
According to Jensen, Scarlett, the “long-awaited first child” of her and her husband, was born on New Year’s Day in 2019. After Scarlett was born, Jensen had three more children: Rosie, 1, Molly, 2, and Henry, 4, who is now four years old.
The mother claims, “Scarlett was the silliest, sweetest little girl.” She adored being a big sister, horses, unicorns, and the films Spirit and Frozen. She enjoyed playing soccer, going to the park, playing hide-and-seek, and attending preschool.
She goes on: “She was thrilled to run around and play with her friends at the soccer match that was scheduled for the day after her death. Her siblings were the greatest source of happiness in her life. She enjoyed playing with her best friend Henry and helping to look after baby Molly.
Jensen continues, “the house feels so quiet and empty without her.”
There are days when the grief is more tolerable and days when it can be overwhelming.
“Some days, it feels like I am drowning, and some days I am able to tread water,” she explains. “My entire family is working very hard in therapy in an effort to recover as much as they can. My life has been saved and my healing process has been greatly aided by my faith in the Lord.
Jensen goes on to say that she has shared details of the loss on social media to let people know “that it is okay to grieve loudly.”
“You don’t have to keep quiet about it. Talk about your people, proudly shout their names, and never stop telling their stories,” she advises.
She goes on to say that grieving is a journey, one that is frequently characterized by low points and setbacks.
According to Jensen, it was initially agonizing to see the picture of Scarlett taken just before she passed away.
“It was extremely painful for me to look at in the beginning,” Jensen says. “How do you come to terms with the existence of a ‘last picture’ of your child?”
However, two years later, “I am so grateful to have that picture.” It depicts the serene atmosphere of her final moments and the splendor that surrounded her as she breathed her final breath. I will always imagine her picking flowers with Meemaw and her best friend, content and carefree.
