Family's bittersweet joy after daughter's phone full of treasured family photos and unseen snaps was returned after she died in April car crash

  • Emily Clark's iPhone was given to her family's lawyer a week ago after it was retrieved from the site of the crash near Savannah, Georgia
  • Her sister Haily said she'd had a dream that the iPhone was still working and it was somewhere near her sister's grave
  • The phone was fully functional when it was returned
  • On it were hundreds of photos, as well as texts from the day of the crash
  • Emily, 20, died with four female friends in a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 16

The sister of a nursing student who was killed in a car crash had a chilling hunch that her sister's phone was intact - and even had a dream it was hidden somewhere near her sister's grave.

And last week - five months after Emily Clark, 20, and her four friends died in the horror smash - her iPhone was returned to her family... intact and full of photos of her they hadn't seen.

The cell phone was one of the items collected by police at the crash site near Savannah, Georgia.

Emily's mom Kathy said as soon as she saw it she thought: 'That’s Emily’s phone.

'We just knew by looking at it.'

Scroll down for video  

Never before seen photo: This photo of Emily Clark and her sister Haily was found in Emily's phone after it was returned to her family last week last week by police who found it by the scene of the crash 

Never before seen photo: This photo of Emily Clark and her sister Haily was found in Emily's phone after it was returned to her family last week last week by police who found it by the scene of the crash 

Unharmed: 'It’s dirty, that’s all,' Emily's mom Kathy Clark said of the condition of the phone which is fully functional. 'We don’t know how or where it was.'

Unharmed: 'It’s dirty, that’s all,' Emily's mom Kathy Clark said of the condition of the phone which is fully functional. 'We don’t know how or where it was.'

On the iPhone were hundreds of photos of Emily of her friends and family, including snapshots of the time her parents Kathy and Craig and her sister Haily came to visit her in Statesboro when she was a freshman in college there.

'It’s dirty, that’s all,' Kathy Clark said of the condition of the phone. 'We don’t know how or where it was.'

Emily, of Powder Springs, was one of five Georgia Southern University students who died in the fiery pile-up in April.

The other victims were Morgan Bass of Leesburg, Abbie Deloach of Savannah, Catherine Pittman of Alpharetta and Caitlyn Baggett of Millen. 

The young women were commuting to St. Joseph's Hospital in Savannah for their last day of clinical training of the school year when their lives were cut tragically short.

The Georgia Southern students were traveling in a Toyota Corolla and a Ford Escape when their vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction pile-up. It is believed the multiple-vehicle collision began when a tractor-trailer plowed into an SUV.  

Following the heartbreaking event, Haily couldn't help but wonder where her sister's phone could be and kept telling her mother that it was in one piece somewhere. 

She even had a dream, she told her parents, that the phone was found near Emily’s grave.

'I know that was Emily saying my phone is still alive,' Haily told her parents. 

Haily's mother brushed off the notion and told her the phone was most likely destroyed.

'Her sister kept saying her phone is there,' Kathy told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution on Thursday.

Family visit: Haily Clark (far left) pictured with her parents and her sister Emily while they were all visiting Emily at school. This photo from Facebook may be similar to some of the photos on the phone which captured more family visits to her school 

Family visit: Haily Clark (far left) pictured with her parents and her sister Emily while they were all visiting Emily at school. This photo from Facebook may be similar to some of the photos on the phone which captured more family visits to her school 

Hunch: Haily (left) visited the area where Emily's (right) crash occurred not long after it happened and couldn’t find her sister's phone but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somewhere just beyond her reach. Here the sisters are pictured at a sporting event when Emily was still alive 

Hunch: Haily (left) visited the area where Emily's (right) crash occurred not long after it happened and couldn’t find her sister's phone but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somewhere just beyond her reach. Here the sisters are pictured at a sporting event when Emily was still alive 

Loved: Emily is pictured here with Neal Hollis whom she dearly loved and dated when she was alive

Loved: Emily is pictured here with Neal Hollis whom she dearly loved and dated when she was alive

Support: Emily's mother Kathy (left) said that friends as well as strangers have come to her aide in difficult times. 'It’s just remarkable, and it’s all because of the people she affected through her life,' Kathy said

Support: Emily's mother Kathy (left) said that friends as well as strangers have come to her aide in difficult times. 'It’s just remarkable, and it’s all because of the people she affected through her life,' Kathy said

Aftermath: Those killed were traveling on Interstate 16 near Savannah in two passenger vehicles mangled by the crash. The tractor-trailer plowed into an SUV, then rolled over a small passenger car that burst into flames

Aftermath: Those killed were traveling on Interstate 16 near Savannah in two passenger vehicles mangled by the crash. The tractor-trailer plowed into an SUV, then rolled over a small passenger car that burst into flames

'We said, "No, it got destroyed."'

Haily visited the area where the crash occurred not long after it happened and couldn’t find her sister's phone but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somewhere just beyond her reach.

Also found in Emily's iPhone which was protected in a turquoise case were texts from the day of the crash from Emily's family and even one of her professors asking if she was OK. 

New hope: A scholarship was created in Emily’s name at Harrison High School, where she was an honor student and varsity cheerleader. Here she poses with family at her high school graduation 

New hope: A scholarship was created in Emily’s name at Harrison High School, where she was an honor student and varsity cheerleader. Here she poses with family at her high school graduation 

Father and daughter: Emily poses with her father Craig Clark at a sporting event. Even though Emily is gone, her family seeks solace in their faith and in friends and family who have rallied around them 

Father and daughter: Emily poses with her father Craig Clark at a sporting event. Even though Emily is gone, her family seeks solace in their faith and in friends and family who have rallied around them 

With Emily gone, the Clark family feels blessed to have her iPhone filled with so many loving memories and photographs of all of them together in happy times.

Kathy Clark told The Atlanta Journal Constitution that the outpouring of support from her community has helped her to heal following her daughter's death.

A scholarship was created in Emily’s name at Harrison High School, where she was an honor student and varsity cheerleader.

Kathy said that friends as well as strangers have come to her aide in difficult times.

'It’s just remarkable, and it’s all because of the people she affected through her life,' her mother said.

'She’s even affecting people she didn’t know. That helps us get through.'

Kathy said her faith in God and her daughter gives her peace of mind.

'God doesn’t make mistakes,' Kathy Clark said. 

'He knew that day he was taking them. And he knew that they had jobs they would still be doing.'

Caitlynn Baggett
Catherine McKay Pittman

Sad: Caitlynn Baggett (left), of Millen, and Catherine McKay Pittman, of Alpharetta, (right) were also killed in the crash that killed Emily 

Abbie Deloach
Morgan Bass

Abbie Deloach (left) and Morgan Bass (right) were both students at Georgia Southern University and were also killed in the fiery pile up several months ago 

Tragedy: A Georgia state trooper works the scene of a deadly crash in which five nursing students from Georgia Southern University died in April

Tragedy: A Georgia state trooper works the scene of a deadly crash in which five nursing students from Georgia Southern University died in April

 

The comments below have not been moderated.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now