WASHINGTON — A young couple with ties to Western Washington was killed in a crash, just 22 days after getting married.
Now, their family is fundraising to bring their bodies home.
Last Tuesday, a trucker from Albuquerque, New Mexico, came upon the crash on Highway 371.
The trucker said he saw a speeding driver pass him right before crashing into that couple.
George Stokes, the trucker, was with 23-year-old newlyweds Serenne Mikel and Casey Daniel as they took their last breaths.
Their car was on fire.
“So, I ran up and I started to pour my fire extinguisher to get the flames out,” he said. “It’s probably one of the worst ones I’ve seen in terms of the speed of the collision.”
Then he and the other Good Samaritans tried speaking to Serenne, who had been driving.
The couple died a few minutes later.
“I was thinking about that moment. I said, ‘I hope they didn’t suffer the pain,’” said grandmother Leola Melengoes.
Melengoes raised Serenne in Federal Way. The couple, from Washington, was on their way to Texas to start their new life together.
“She was happy, excited,” Melengoes said, calling Serenne by her ancestral name, Dildanges, as she remembered her joy of just getting married.
Her aunt, who was like her sister, says they are grateful for those who stopped to help the couple. Grateful, too, that the couple didn’t die alone.
“The only comfort we have in that crash is Serenne and Casey were together,” said Brea Mikel. “That they had each other.”
Both Serenne and Casey had deep family ties to Palau in Micronesia. That is where the family would like to take their remains.
They have set up a GoFundMe to help make that happen.
©2025 Cox Media Group
