WITH a beauty queen title, four beautiful children and another on the way, Audra Rogers had everything going for her.
However, after setting off on the school run, the pregnant respiratory therapist never returned and was killed in a devastating car collision by a woman who was later charged with murder.
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Audra Rogers was killed in a car collision in 2021 at the age of 36, and was pregnant with her fifth baby Credit: Supplied
Audra with her kids: Roman, 12, Reed, 10, Rawley, six, and Rhett, five Credit: Supplied
Audra, who was named the 2021 World’s Ms Alabama Tourism pageant queen, was involved in a head-on crash which turned her family’s world upside down.
Her four young sons were in the car and survived, after Anna Lea Dalrymple, who was on a “cocktail of drugs”, smashed into their vehicle.
Before the accident, Audra, 36, had been excited about the arrival of her fifth child.
The mum, who was also a bodybuilder, also had Roman, 12, and Reed, 10, with ex-husband Luke, and Rawley, six, and Rhett, five, with former partner Gabriel.
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Audra was a beauty queen and a body builder, who worked as a respiratory therapist in a hospital Credit: Supplied
Audra with her mum Katie, 60 Credit: Supplied
She had recently met a new guy and fallen pregnant with a baby boy, but the relationship was “rocky.”
Mum Katie Bramlett, 60, said about Audra’s dedication to her kids: “Despite her full-on schedule, any time one of the boys had a sports game or a school play, she was always there to cheer them on.
“They meant everything to her.”
Taking to Facebook, Audra had announced her pregnancy news with a photo of the scan and the caption: “Can’t wait to meet you little one.”
Anna Lea Dalrymple, 39, pleaded guilty to reckless murder and first-degree assault as part of a plea deal, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison Credit: Tuscaloosa county jail
A tribute to Audra from her family Credit: Supplied
Katie vividly recalls the last conversation she had with her daughter, which was on the day of her tragic death.
Audra had called Katie for her daily catch up and told her she had broken up with her partner.
Katie shared: “I knew her relationship had been rocky, so I wasn’t surprised at what she told me.”
Audra then said she had to pick the boys up from school but would call her back later – however, the call never came.
Katie shared: “After we hung up, I settled on the sofa with my hubby Mark to watch some telly.
“A few hours later, I hadn’t heard from Audra so I tried to Facetime her. But it rang off.”
Although the mum thought something was strange, Katie’s husband Mark reasoned that Audra could have been busy with putting the kids to bed.
Twenty minutes later, her phone rang, and it wasn’t Audra.
On the other end was Luke’s mum, who told them the heartbreaking news that Audra had been killed in a car crash.
Katie shared: “I instantly became hysterical.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but I wanted to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.”
The boys, who had been in the car with their mum, had been airlifted to hospital.
All had broken limbs and some of them had other injuries, including lacerations of the liver, a broken jaw and concussions.
Audra had been pronounced dead at the scene.
Calling the local police on the way to the hospital, Katie learned that there was an open murder investigation around the collision, but they couldn’t share further details.
When Katie managed to see the boys in hospital, she said there were a lot of “tears and confusion.”
She shared how she had thought she would “physically break”, after Rhett had heart-wrenchingly said: “Grandma, I’m an angel’s baby now”.
Katie later got a call from a police officer who told her that the woman responsible for the crash had been reported earlier that day by a petrol station attendant for appearing under the influence, and they were doing tests to establish if it was alcohol or drugs.
After the boys were discharged from hospital a few weeks later, Katie arranged a funeral for daughter Audra.
Katie shared: “She loved lots of bling, so I bought glitzy decorations.
“I asked the funeral home to put her in a gorgeous black and silver sequinned dress I’d picked out.
“We held Audra’s funeral and the church was packed with people wanting to pay their respects to my girl.
“She was loved by so many, I thought.
“Watching the boys put their little hands on Audra’s casket was gut-wrenching.
“I didn’t know how they’d cope without her.”
Katie later found out from police what had happened that fateful day.
Audra had been driving home after picking the boys up from school, when the driver, Anna, who was coming from the other direction veered across the middle of the road.
Audra spotted it just in time to swerve.
Rawley had been in the front passenger seat, so it meant that instead of the car hitting his side, it hit Audra’s instead.
Katie added: “One thing in particular played on my mind.
“During the crash, all of them had blacked out apart from Roman.
“I worried about how traumatised he’d be after being forced to watch his mum die.”
Police said they found a “cocktail of drugs” in Anna’s system, and her young daughter was in the backseat of the car at the time of the crash and was injured too.
She was also driving without insurance.
Anna was charged with reckless murder as well as assaults relating to the boys’ injuries, reckless endangerment and domestic violence for putting her daughter in harm’s way.
She posted bail and was out free while police continued their investigations.
Katie added: “It made me furious that she could go on with her life while Audra’s was cruelly snatched away.”
After four long years, Anna Lea Dalrymple, 39, pleaded guilty to reckless murder and first-degree assault as part of a plea deal.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Speaking of her heartbreak, Katie shared: “It wasn’t just Audra’s life that woman took, it was my unborn grandson’s too.
“All I can do is take comfort in the fact that wherever my girl is now, she’s with her baby.”
