Hiedei Bailey was a nurse, mother and veteran who served our country for eight and a half years.
She left behind an 11 year-old daughter who friends say was her best friend.
“She was just such a shining light everywhere she went,” Shawn Whitcomb said, a friend of Bailey.
Hiedei Bailey’s friends described her as a dedicated and talented nurse at the VA in White City, as well as an amazing friend and an overly dedicated mom.
Bailey served as an intel analyst in Iraq and Afghanistan for a combined four years.
Whitcomb said, “she was very much very dedicated to her military service, she was very proud of her military service.”
Friends and family were devastated when they found out Bailey died after being hit by a van in an RV park in Harbor on the Fourth of July.
Her daughter was playing on the beach just a few feet away when the crash happened.
Whitcomb said, “my heart went to my stomach. I thought, ‘this can’t be our Hiedei Bailey.”
The investigation into the crash is still in its early stages in Curry County.
The 66-year-old Brookings man driving the van that killed Bailey has not been arrested.
The Sheriff’s Office says they don’t believe the crash was intentional.
Sheriff John Ward said, “we don’t know what the exact cause was, what caused the subject to crash into the vehicles and hit the women. That’s what we’re looking into. We’re taking all of the steps that we can. We got the district attorney involved.”
Ward said they are looking into whether the driver had a possible medical issue or if there was a mechanical problem with the vehicle.
The driver was taken to the hospital for a potential head injury.
The Sheriff says it could be a while before we know what caused the crash.
“It’s not something we can do like C.I.S. You see on tv, and have it all done in an hour,” Ward said.
But investigators won’t give up until they do.
The sheriff’s office still plans on interviewing more witnesses.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with expenses.
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