June 29, 2024
RIVERSIDE, Ala. — Days after Riverside Baptist Church in St. Clair County, Ala., was reduced to rubble following a fiery car crash that killed the driver, a woman reported to be the dead man’s girlfriend died in a similar crash early Sunday morning.
Riverside officials responded to a fire at the church on June 20. The church’s brick walls were all that were left after officials put out the fire. News outlets later identified the driver as 19-year-old Anthony Banks Jr. Officials believed Banks had crashed into the church’s basement after leaving the roadway.
Just after midnight on June 23, Jennefer L. Arellano-Madonado, 19, crashed into a brick wall of the destroyed church.
Her car also caught on fire, and she died on the scene. Officials said Arellano-Maldonado was driving a 2019 BMW X5, which authorities alleged was stolen from her aunt. An Alabama Law Enforcement official told local news outlets that she was attempting to evade police when the crash happened.
WBRC-13 reported that Arellano-Maldonado was Banks’ girlfriend.
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This story first appeared in The Alabama Baptist.
