Woman takes final photo of 3-year-old granddaughter just 5 minutes before she is pronounced dead

An Idaho grandmother captured a photo of her three-year-old granddaughter just moments before she was tragically killed.

In 2022, Samantha Jensen’s mother, Jamie, was watching over young Scarlett and her two-year-old brother Henry when the heartbreaking event unfolded.

Now, two years later, Samantha has found the strength to share the last photo of her children playing together before Scarlett's tragic passing.

In a TikTok post, Samantha wrote: "My mom took this picture at 4:47PM and my daughter's time of death was 4:52. My mom didn't know she was capturing the last moments of her life."

She added: "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. This one is really hard for me to look at, just knowing what comes next breaks my heart."

Jamie had just returned from taking the kids for ice cream when Scarlett asked to get out of her stroller to pick flowers.

"That's when my mom took the last picture I have of her alive."

As Scarlett was picking yellow and purple flowers in their private driveway, a Chevy Tahoe sped down the dirt road, striking her, her brother, and their grandmother.

Before the collision, Jamie shouted at the driver to stop and tried to push her grandchildren out of harm's way.

But the driver was moving "too fast." "Scarlett was killed almost instantly and my mom and Henry were critically injured," Samantha told People.

It wasn’t until weeks later that the grief-stricken mother discovered her mom had taken a photo of Scarlett's final moments.

"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 the pictures and found that one," Samantha shared.

Initially, looking at the picture was "excruciating" for Samantha.

"It was extremely painful for me to look at in the beginning. How do you come to terms with the existence of a 'last picture' of your child?"

But two years on, she has come to find comfort in the peaceful scene the photo captures, sharing it on TikTok, where it received heartfelt messages from strangers.

Samantha expressed: "I am so incredibly thankful to have that photo. It captures the peaceful feeling of her last moments, the beauty she was surrounded by when she took her last breaths.

"I will forever picture her happy and carefree, picking flowers with her best friend and Meemaw."

After the accident, Henry had to be airlifted to a children's hospital where doctors found "a fractured spine, six broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, a liver laceration and several other injuries."

The two-year-old "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," Samantha recounted.

Eventually, both Henry and his grandmother recovered from their physical injuries.

But the emotional wounds remain deep for the grieving family. Scarlett, born on New Year’s Day 2019, was "the long-awaited first child" of Samantha and her husband. Her grandfather, Jim Patton, shared with KHQ that she was "so full of life, so full of love...such a smart little girl."

"A piece of my soul is gone," he added.

Samantha remembered her daughter as "the silliest, sweetest little girl."

"She loved horses, unicorns, being a big sister, and the movies Frozen and Spirit.

"The absolute joy of her life were her siblings. She loved helping take care of baby Molly and playing with her best friend Henry."

Without Scarlett’s joyful presence, "the house feels so quiet and empty without her."

The family continues to grapple with the actions of the driver. After fleeing the scene on foot, the driver was later apprehended a few miles away.

"How do you do that? How do you walk away from suffering?" Patton questioned. Samantha noted that the driver is now serving a ten-year prison sentence, with two years credited for time served during the legal process.

Samantha's grief can be overwhelming at times. "Some days, it feels like I am drowning, and some days I am able to tread water."

She chose to share her experience on social media, hoping to show others "that it is okay to grieve loudly."

"You don't have to do it in silence. Talk about your people, scream their names loud and proud, and never stop sharing their stories."

Featured image credit: NoDerog / Getty