Texan-based singer Kylie Rae Harris was on her way to the Big Barn Dance in Taos when she was hitting speeds over 100 miles per hour before crashing head-on into a vehicle driven by a high school student north of Taos, according to the Taos Country Sheriff’s Office.
More on Kylie Rae Harris’ Tragic Accident
Apart from the speeding detail, Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe, who is the Taos County Sheriff, also suspects that alcohol is a huge contributing cause in the crash. However, no toxicology reports have been released yet from the state Office of the Medical Investigator.
“The information from the data boxes supports our at-scene investigation that two collision events occurred involving the three vehicles and that speed was definitely a contributing factor.”
Earlier, Hogrefe also said that Maria Elena Cruz, the teenager that died with Harris in the accident, was the victim of a “senseless crash” that was caused by the 30-year-old singer.
According to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office, Harris tried to break “three-tenths of a second before impact.”
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Hours before the fatal crash, Harris’ social media presence was also prominent. She was tweeting and posting a series of videos on her Instagram Stories that documented her road trip through New Mexico, where she was scheduled to play at the Big Barn Dance Music Festival in Taos.
The videos were particularly eerie as a teary-eyed Harris discussed how all of her family members who lived in Taos, with the exception of her uncle, had died there.
“Driving these roads — I’ve been driving for 12 hours — you would think that’s so exhausting and boring but like, the last couple of hours driving through the mountains, I’m just remembering my place in the backseat as a little kid when my dad was making these treks here. It was the f— best, and I started getting really sad.”
Cruz was the daughter of the San Cristóbal deputy fire chief. Harris left behind a young daughter.
