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Iowa family grieving after father, daughter killed in crash

CARROLL, Iowa — Members of a Carroll family say they're devastated after this week's crash that killed a 41-year-old father and his 14-year-old daughter. It was before school Monday when Josh Shelton lost control of his pickup truck, which entered a ditch and hit a utility pole. He and Aubrey, a freshman at Carroll High School, died. “Just thinking about everything, and my heart just hurts, that there's nothing I can do to take that pain away from her," said Stephanie Sani Saidou, Aubrey’s cousin. She and her mother, Rhonda Mattes, say it's still hard to accept. “Well, when you hear something like that, you can't believe it. Now, this doesn't happen to your family. It only happens to other families,” Mattes said. They may never know exactly what caused the crash, but an Iowa State Patrol report says Shelton was attempting to pass another vehicle while driving southbound on Highway 71 just before 8 a.m. “Maybe there was some ice, an ice patch, black ice. It's just super sad, the whole situation,” said Sani Saidou, who created a GoFundMe for Josh's wife and Aubrey's mother. As of Thursday evening, more than $22,000 of the $50,000 goal had been donated. Sani Saidou and Mattes said Aubrey was a beautiful girl — shy and happy. “She was very, very shy. But just looking at her face, she had a smile all the time and she looked just like everybody just loved her," Mattes said. They said Josh loved his wife, Amanda, and was proud of Aubrey and her siblings. “There's not really words to put into how everybody (is) feeling. There's nothing you can ever say in that situation to make it any better,” Sani Saidou said. She's hoping the GoFundMe will help provide at least mild relief for the family, so they don't have to stress about expenses after the crash. “Emotionally, I can't take the pain away. ... I never will be able to. But being able to help financially is what I can do to help her. And I think it will just take a lot of stress away from her so she can properly grieve the loss of her husband and her daughter,” Sani Saidou said. The family is planning a private funeral for next week in Carroll.

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