New Year’s Eve is usually filled with anticipation.
A pause between what was and what might be.
A moment when families believe the next year will bring something better.

In Fort Pierce, Florida, that belief shattered before the sun fully rose.

What should have been an ordinary morning became a family’s worst nightmare.
A new year began with loss instead of hope.

Just after dropping off the girls’ mother at work, Endelson Laguerre began driving again.

His two daughters were in the back seat, strapped safely into their car seats.
The road ahead looked no different than any other morning.

Zyanna Laguerre was three years old.

She was excited about starting preschool this year.
Her world was just beginning to open.

Beside her sat her little sister, Kyah.
Only one year old.
Too young to understand how fragile moments can be.

Minutes after the drop-off, everything changed.
Another vehicle slammed into Endelson’s car from behind.
The impact was violent, sudden, and unforgiving.

Metal crumpled.
Glass shattered.
A routine drive turned into chaos in seconds.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene.
Sirens cut through the morning air.
Strangers watched helplessly as responders worked.

Zyanna and Kyah were both secured in their child seats.
They were exactly where they were supposed to be.

But sometimes, even doing everything right is not enough.

Zyanna was transported to the hospital.
Doctors fought to save her small body.
Her injuries were severe.

One hour later, Zyanna died.

A little girl who had woken up to a normal day was suddenly gone.
Time collapsed into before and after.

For Endelson Laguerre, the world stopped moving.
The sound of machines replaced his daughter’s laughter.

The future he imagined disappeared in an instant.

Zyanna was known for her big, contagious smile.
The kind that made strangers smile back without realizing why.
A smile that carried warmth far beyond her years.

Friends and family remember her as gentle and well-behaved.
She listened.
She loved easily.

“Anyone who met my daughter didn’t have a problem with her,” Endelson said.
“She was well behaved. She was a good little girl.”

His words trembled under the weight of grief.

She had plans.
Preschool this year.
New friends, new routines, new beginnings.

Instead, her life ended before the year truly began.
A future reduced to memories and photographs.

Dreams interrupted without warning.

As news spread through Fort Pierce, the community responded.
People who knew Zyanna and people who never met her gathered together.
Grief has a way of erasing boundaries.

A candlelight vigil was held in her honor.
Hands held candles, balloons, and photos.
Small flames flickered against the night.

Stories were shared softly.
About how Zyanna impacted lives in such a short time.

About her smile, her presence, her spirit.

Some cried openly.
Others stood silently, unsure what to say.
Sometimes standing together is enough.

For parents in the crowd, the pain cut deeper.

They held their children closer.
They imagined the unthinkable.

Endelson stood surrounded by love and loss.
He was grieving while also surviving.
Two roles no parent should have to balance.

Kyah survived the crash.
Her presence is both comfort and reminder.
A living connection to what was lost.

Endelson now faces a reality no one prepares for.
Planning his child’s funeral instead of her first day of school.

Choosing caskets instead of backpacks.

He says prayer is what will carry him forward.
Faith becomes an anchor when nothing else holds.
Hope looks different after tragedy.

As Florida Highway Patrol continues investigating the crash, questions remain.

Why didn’t the other driver slow down?
Why did a moment of carelessness cost a child her life?

Endelson does not speak with anger alone.
He speaks with purpose.
With a father’s need for meaning.

“You’re supposed to slow down,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re going.”
His voice carried urgency and pain.

Railroad tracks.
Intersections.
Red lights.

None of them excuse speeding.
None of them justify risk.

None of them should end with a child’s death.

“Why was the car totaled like that?” Endelson asked.
“Why did my baby lose her life like that?”
Questions that echo without answers.

Traffic accidents are often called tragedies.
But this one feels preventable.
A reminder written in loss.

Zyanna did nothing wrong.
She was strapped in.
She was loved.

Her parents did what they were supposed to do.
They protected their children the best they could.
Yet protection failed them anyway.

That is the cruelty of sudden loss.
It arrives without permission.
It leaves wreckage behind.

The crash did not only take a life.
It reshaped a family forever.
It rewrote their future.

Holidays will never feel the same.
New Year’s Eve will always carry sirens and sorrow.
Joy will now arrive with caution.

Birthdays will be marked with absence.
Milestones will feel incomplete.
Photos will carry both love and pain.

Zyanna’s name will continue to be spoken.
In prayers.
In stories.

Her smile will live on in memory.
In the way people describe her.
In the way her family holds onto her spirit.

This tragedy reaches beyond one household.
It touches every driver who hears the story.
Every parent buckling a child into a car seat.

It is a warning written in grief.
A plea disguised as loss.
Slow down.

Lives depend on it.
Children depend on it.
Families depend on it.

Zyanna Laguerre should be preparing for preschool.
Learning letters.
Making friends.

Instead, she is remembered by candlelight.
By balloons released into the night sky.
By a community refusing to forget her.

Three years was not enough time.
It never is.
But it was enough to leave love behind.

Her life mattered.
Her loss matters.
And her story deserves to be told.

As the investigation continues, the grief does not pause.
It settles into quiet mornings and long nights.
It becomes part of everyday life.

For Endelson, survival now looks different.
It means waking up and breathing.
It means honoring Zyanna’s name.

In the glow of candles, her memory remains.
Small, bright, and impossible to ignore.
Just like her smile.

A new year began with heartbreak.
But love still gathered in the darkness.
And that love refuses to let Zyanna be forgotten.