Fredzania Thompson, a pregnant 19-year-old aspiring model from Navasota, Texas, was fatally struck by a train during a photoshoot on the train tracks in a bid to launch her modeling career, on Friday.
The teen who attended Blinn College in Bryan wanted to put her education on hold to begin modeling, her mother, Hakamie Stevenson told the Eagle.
“That’s definitely what she wanted to do,” Hakamie Stevenson said. “It’s what she had started to do the day she was deceased.”
According to authorities, Thompson was standing between two sets of tracks Friday in Navasota when a BNSF Railway train approached. She moved out of the way, but was unaware that a Union Pacific train was coming in the opposite direction and got struck by the train.
The teen passed away from her injuries on her way to the hospital, the photographer was not injured at all.
Fredzania could be seen smiling in a photo taken on the tracks just before the fatal accident.
“Zanie had the most beautiful smile,” fiancé Earl Chatman, 25, told the Eagle. “I believe she would want everyone to know what a kind and caring person she is.”
Her fiancé, Chatman, who is already the father of a 7-year-old son, found out in recent weeks that Fredzania was going to give him another child.
He said:
“She said, ‘You’re going to be a dad again.'”
Fredzania graduated from Navasota High School in 2015 where she had scholarships for being a star volleyball player. She was also a hair and makeup expert.
Shedding light on how the accident had occurred, Union Pacific spokesman Jeff De Graff, told the Navasota Examiner that the train crew had alerted them with the horn as they approached them and began the emergency stop process.
“Basically, you have two railroad tracks there, one is Burlington Northern to the west and one is Union Pacific to the east, and she was in between the two tracks,” Navasota Assistant City Manager Shawn Myatt said.
“Burlington Northern had a train on their track coming and she turned back to the east to walk across the Union Pacific track and walked right in front of the Union Pacific train that was heading south.”
The funeral service for Fredzania will be held on Saturday in Brosig Auditorium in Navasota. A graveside service will take place at Oakland Cemetery.
