It’s been two months since her 17-year-old son and 19-year-old nephew were hit and killed on the side of I-285, but Kautara Mitchell can’t allow herself to grieve.
She has to be strong, she said, for her family and the countless others who loved Damaje Favre and Deljuane “Tre” Mitchell. In one night, her family lost two promising young men. Two other families, the Johnses and the Duprees, lost someone as well.
Damaje Favre, Tre Mitchell, Roberto Johns and Robert Dupree were all killed Feb. 8 when they got out of their vehicles following a hit-and-run crash on I-285 near Moreland Avenue. Johns, 47, and Dupree, 32, were trying to help the teenage boys when a silver Honda Pilot came speeding through the crash scene, swerved and hit a median wall, setting off a chain reaction that would forever alter the course of their families’ lives.
According to DeKalb County police, the Pilot was stolen out of Atlanta hours before it hit the four men and flipped on I-285. In the immediate aftermath, police assumed its driver was ejected and killed. Only later did investigators learn the driver ran from the scene, and they have not been located since.
The protector and friend
Kautara Mitchell has spent the past 60 days fielding phone calls from distraught teenagers. They want to tell someone how much they loved Favre, and Mitchell is the kind of mother hen who always finds room under her wings.
“Damaje was a good kid,” she said. “He was light and laughter and love. So many lives he affected.”
The 17-year-old was taking gifted classes at Stephenson High School, loved basketball and was always looking out for others, Mitchell said. When schools closed amid the pandemic, Favre stayed on top of his studies while also helping his 8- and 10-year-old cousins with their remote learning so their mother could go back to work.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
Favre had an old soul, his mother said. She remembers the last conversation they had before Favre left the house with his friend, 17-year-old Calvary “Chuck” Ray, to attend a Super Bowl party. They were discussing the type of girl Favre would marry one day.
“And he was talking, like, ‘The girl is going to have to be like you, she has to be of substance,’” Mitchell said. “‘Mom, you’ve been through so much hurt and pain in your life, you are so undeserving of that, but you are strong.’”
It’s the strength she draws on as she learns how to live without her son. “He had such a good life ahead of him,” she said.
The father-to-be
Favre had a built-in best friend in his older cousin, 19-year-old Tre Mitchell. It was so rare to see one without the other that Mitchell’s mother, Lottie Sparks, said there is some comfort “God has seen fit to take them both together.”
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
Mitchell, a 2019 graduate of Redan High School, was preparing to be a husband and father and relishing his new roles. His son, Sparks’ first grandchild, is due any day.
Sparks said Mitchell was home with his fiancée the night of Feb. 8 when he got a call from Favre asking for help. Ray’s car was overheating, and they could use Mitchell’s mechanical know-how to get them home.
He was following slowly behind the boys when his Mustang was hit from behind, causing him to spin out in the middle of I-285. Favre and Ray pulled Mitchell out of his car and helped him hobble to what they thought was a safe spot on the side of the freeway while they waited for authorities to arrive.
When the Pilot came barreling into the crash scene, Ray said Favre spread his arms out wide to cover Mitchell, hoping he could protect his older cousin one last time. The family recently held a baby shower for Mitchell’s unborn son, Kaylen. A cardboard cutout stood in the place of the father-to-be.
The husband-to-be
Roberto Johns was months away from marrying his partner of two years, Lawrence Miller. They connected on the dance floor when Johns, an Oklahoma state employee who danced professionally on the side, finally found someone who could keep up with him.
Johns and Miller were driving home from a Super Bowl party when three cars flew past them on I-285 going at least 100 mph, Miller said. It was obvious to him they were racing.
“He and I looked at each other, and I was like, ’They are going to cause an accident,’” he said.
They pulled over to help when they saw Mitchell’s wrecked Mustang and several other vehicles stopped on the side of the interstate.
Johns told Miller to pull their car forward while he stayed with the crash victims. Miller remembers hearing a loud boom, and then he was searching in the dark for his fiancé’s white sweatshirt among the bodies scattered on the interstate. Since the crash, Miller has petitioned the Georgia Department of Transportation to install more lighting on that stretch of I-285.
It won’t bring back Johns, but it could save another life, he said. Miller plans to hold a memorial on their would-be wedding date, May 22.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
“When he danced, he could dance ... it brought joy into the room,” Miller said. “Everybody would gather, be cheering and smiling. He just brought life to the room.”
The professional driver
Keisha Bynes said she woke up the morning of Feb. 8 and immediately knew something was wrong. Her fiancé, professional truck driver Robert Dupree, did not send his usual text to let her know he and his cargo arrived safely at their destination. She tracked his truck to DeKalb, but she had to make a missing person’s report in their home city of Marietta.
For 48 hours, she did not know what happened to Dupree, the father of Bynes’ 1-year-old daughter and loving father figure to her three older children. She listened in shock as a police officer told her Dupree was killed while outside his truck cab on I-285, which seemed out of character for the perennially safe driver.
“You never know what you’re going to do when you are actually in the situation,” Bynes said. “It’s killing us. He’s a professional driver, you know that it’s dark and it’s not safe. It really had to be bad.”
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
Dupree was 2 months old when he lost his mother, and his siblings were lost to the foster care system. His funeral brought them together again, Bynes said, with siblings meeting for the first time over their brother’s casket.
“He was an exceptional father,” she said. “His daughter was his pride and joy. That’s all he ever wanted. He never had family, so his daughter was his everything.”
Now, Bynes, Miller, Sparks, Mitchell and their families are united in a common cause: justice. Each wants to see the driver of the stolen Honda Pilot held responsible for the loss of their loved ones.
Sparks, Tre Mitchell’s mother, said not a day goes by that she doesn’t pray for that driver. She prays for the families of the bystanders who helped her son, too.
“We look on the TV and see so many other people lose their loved ones to gun violence,” she said. “They died in a car crash, but I don’t want their lives, and the bystanders’ lives, to be forgotten. I want them to be remembered. To know that they gave their life well.”
Anyone with information about the crash or the stolen Pilot’s driver is asked to come forward. Tipsters can remain anonymous, and be eligible for rewards of up to $2,000, by contacting Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477, texting information to 274637 or visiting the Crime Stoppers website.
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