Parents of five killed when tree falls on car on birthday trip

The parents of five were killed when a 175-foot-tall redwood tree fell on their car, California police said.

The crash happened Thursday when Jake Woodruff and his wife, Jessica Woodruff, were heading south on Highway 199 near Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in Del Norte County. The California Highway Patrol said a redwood fell on the couple’s 2016 Honda, “completely crushing the interior.”

Jake, 36, and Jessica, 45, suffered fatal injuries and died, according to an incident report.

According to a GoFundMe fundraising page, the husband and wife were on an annual trip along the coast to celebrate Jessica’s birthday. They leave behind five children: Megan, Evan, Casey, Allie and Chelsea.

“This was a shocking and unexpected event, and the tragedy of this accident makes it hard to accept as real,” says GoFundMe. “These 5 children are now left without parents and face a lifetime of expense.”

As of Wednesday morning, the GoFundMe page had raised over $ 238,000.

Jessica’s cousin Amanda Maffei told the local ABC affiliate that the couple had been married for almost 13 years. Their children are between 8 and 24 years old, according to KDRV-TV. Maffei said the family started a GoFundMe because older children now have the responsibility of looking after younger ones.

“I think they are going to find strength in each other,” she said. “They’re going to look after each other and, you know, just the generosity of so many different communities and the support they’ve received. I hope they will also find strength there.

The California Highway Patrol said the crash was still under investigation.