Family, friends, reeling with grief after two children die in ATV accident

Family and friends are reeling with grief after a tragedy that has shaken the community.

8-year-old Emilia Freire and her 6-year-old brother Noah died on Saturday. They were out on an ATV ride with their dad near their family farm when the machine plunged into a 30-foot-deep pond.

“You don’t have words for something like this but they are pushing through but they are obviously broken, they are broken inside.”

Close family friend Wes Holmes says those who know the family is reeling with grief and shock. Emilia and Noah have been described as playful, loving, and adventurous children loved by their family and many friends at Corpus Christi elementary school off of Upper James in Hamilton.

Hamilton police were called to Miles Road near Airport Road on Saturday around four in the afternoon. By that time, the side-by-side ATV was already submerged in the pond, and police, fire, and paramedics worked to get the children out. The siblings died in hospital.

The close-knit family of four forever changed.

“It was Dave, Ashley, Noah and Mia. They were, like you said, a unit. They did everything together. Sherkston shores, dinners out, vacations, getaways. If there’s a family out there you want to mold yours after it was this one,” Holmes said.

Holmes started a GoFundMe page so that parents Dave and Ashley do not have to bear the financial burden of burying their children. Over $50,000 has already been donated.

An obituary for the children reads: “we know both of you are together forever playing, joking, and teasing each other with love.”

Their funeral will be held on Saturday.