Memorial service held for mother, baby killed in I-5 crash near Kent

Family and friends had a memorial service Sunday for Anjelika and Arista Holland, the mother and her 6-month-old baby who each died in a car crash last month along Interstate 5 near Kent.

Anjelika Holland, 21, of Bellevue and a 2015 graduate Auburn Mountainview High School, died at the scene of the Nov. 24 crash along northbound I-5 just south of South 188th Street. Arista Holland died Nov. 28 at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“Thank you so much for everyone who has supported this heartbreaking tragedy,” said Katy Freiberg, mother of Anjelika on a GoFundMe account for her daughter’s funeral expenses. “Bless everyone who has contributed and poured their heart into this. Nobody knows when their expiration date is up.”

Relatives and friends gathered at Weeks Funeral Home in Enumclaw/Buckley for the service.

Holland was driving a 2003 Saturn L200 when the car in front of her slowed due to traffic. Holland swerved, but hit the vehicle in front of her and a guardrail before a third vehicle hit the Saturn, which came to a rest in the fourth and fifth lanes facing the wrong direction.

A fourth car then struck the Saturn. Holland was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt. Paramedics transported her baby, who was in a car seat, to Harborview Medical Center.

The driver and a passenger in the fourth vehicle, a 2017 Toyota Highlander, were treated for injuries at the scene. Nobody else was injured. The Saturn and Toyota Highlander were each totaled.

The speed by Holland’s vehicle for the traffic conditions was the cause of the crash, according to the Washington State Patrol. Drugs or alcohol were not involved.

The car driven by Anjelika Holland in the Nov. 24 crash along I-5. COURTESY PHOTO, State Patrol