8-year-old Indiana girl hailed as ‘Hero’ after rescuing friends from fatal car crash while returning from girl scouts trip

An eight-year-old Indiana girl from Pike County is being called a hero by her family members, as she apparently helped her friends escape during a fatal crash while returning home from a Girl Scout trip to Holiday World on August 29 when the vehicle she was in was hit head-on. Amelia Freeland was among three who survived the crash in Pike County, Indiana, on August 29, 2026, according to reports and a GoFundMe set up for her.

The incident took place at around 7:42 PM when a man was allegedly fleeing police during a domestic violence-related call and crashed head-on into a vehicle being driven by 41-year-old Amanda Wertman, the Indiana State Police (ISP) said in a statement. Her mother, Tasha Cox, says Amelia immediately helped free her friends and got one of them out of the vehicle. “Would you like to tell them what happened? You know what happened,” Cox asked her daughter. “We flipped over,” Amelia said.

“At approximately 7:42 p.m., a Pike County Sheriff’s Department deputy was traveling westbound on State Road 64 with his emergency lights and siren activated while responding to investigate an active domestic violence call at the Country Junction gas station near the intersection of State Road 64 and State Road 61," the police statement read.


“As a red Toyota Camry believed to be involved in the domestic violence incident left the Country Junction gas station, the deputy observed the Camry run another motorist off the roadway before continuing eastbound on State Road 64. The deputy then observed the Camry fail to stop at the flashing red signal controlling the four-way stop at the intersection of State Road 61 and State Road 64,” it further stated.

Both Wertman and the male driver were pronounced dead at the scene, while her 8-year-old daughter, identified in a GoFundMe campaign as Michaela Wertman, subsequently succumbed to her injuries at the hospital, according to the ISP. Three other juvenile passengers, identified in separate GoFundMe fundraisers as 8-year-old Oaklie, Amelia, and Amanda’s 5-year-old son, Theodore Wertman, survived the fatal collision.

Amelia’s family opens up

Amelia’s family is now sharing how the young girl acted heroically to support her friends during the tragic crash, which occurred as the group was heading home from a Girl Scouts excursion. “[She] told us that the car flipped over and that the other car was on fire,” her mother Tasha Cox told 14 News. “And that she got unbuckled her seat belt and got out, and then she went and helped the other kids unbuckle their seat belts.” According to Cox, she got herself and Theodore out of the vehicle.

All three surviving young victims are currently recovering, according to updates posted on their individual GoFundMe pages. Speaking to 14 News, Cox shared that Amelia sustained a compressed neck fracture, with doctors expecting a full recovery time of roughly four to six weeks.

Meanwhile, Oaklie's family noted on her GoFundMe page that she is making steady, albeit slow, recovery progress after suffering two brain bleeds. Theodore has been discharged from the hospital to continue his healing process at home while navigating the grief of losing his mother and sister, per an update on his GoFundMe campaign.