Cumming gathers to honor three Horizon Christian Academy students killed in crash

A quiet spring break trip to St. George Island ended in flames on Highway 65 in Franklin County, Florida, and the grief has now reached deep into Cumming. Family, friends, classmates and church members will gather at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Browns Bridge Church to honor Jackson Mobley, 18, Jaylyn Fehr, 17, and Charlotte Martin, 16, three Horizon Christian Academy students whose deaths have shaken Forsyth County.

The service, at 3860 Browns Bridge Road, was described in an obituary as open to the community, a signal that the families want the wider circle of people who knew the teens to come together now. The crash happened April 6, when the vehicle carrying four Horizon students ran off the roadway, struck a tree and caught fire. Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Highway Patrol, Franklin County EMS and Eastpoint Volunteer Fire Department responders all came to the scene.

Jamison Mobley, 17, survived after a witness pulled her from the car before it went up in flames. She was airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in critical condition and has continued her recovery there. Horizon Christian Academy, a private K-12 school in Cumming with about 300 students, said it was mourning three “amazing, kind, smart, and loved students” and asked for prayers for Jamison and the families facing the loss.

The tragedy has altered the rhythm of the school and the people around it. When students and staff returned after spring break, Horizon brought in additional counselors, licensed Christian counselors and local faith leaders to help them process the shock, an effort aimed at more than a single day of grief. In classrooms, hallways and church circles across Forsyth County, the loss has touched the people who sat beside the teens, taught them, coached them and worshiped with them.

The impact has also reached beyond the school grounds. Memorial crosses and flowers have been placed near the crash site in Florida, and one report said the Cumming water tower would be lit in Horizon Christian Academy colors, turning the sorrow into a countywide marker of remembrance. For families now facing an empty seat at home and classmates trying to understand how three young lives could be lost so suddenly, Monday’s gathering will offer one shared place to pray, grieve and hold the four students together in memory.