Three members of a Stone Mountain family killed in a wreck in New Jersey were honored Friday by neighbors and customers who created a makeshift memorial outside of the Caribbean bakery that the family owned.
Eighteen-year-old Nicole Mallett was the only survivor of the family, which was returning home from a holiday trip to visit relatives. Killed were her father, Ainsworth Mallet, 51; mother, Jacqueline, 49; and brother Drew, 12. A tractor-trailer slammed into the back of their Toyota Camry at 10:10 a.m. Thursday on the New Jersey Turnpike near Mount Laurel.
A dog in the Toyota was also killed.
Camelia Foster, a neighbor and close friend, stopped Friday morning at the Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill on Rockbridge Road in Lithonia. She said her son played football with Drew Mallett at Stephenson Middle School before Drew quit to join the band.
Foster’s children grew up alongside the Mallett’s kids in the same cul-de-sac of Carriage Trace subdivision in Stone Mountain, she said.
“They were a very, very close and loving family,” Foster said. “It’s a shock to our whole subdivision.”
Jacqueline Mallett, or “Miss Jackie” as she was nicknamed, was an administrative assistant in the counseling office of Stephenson Middle School. Everyone in the family helped out with running Ainsworth’s franchise, Foster said.
Customers said it was a popular hangout for Jamaican transplants.
Dale Brown, a regular patron, was shocked to learn of the tragedy when he went to buy porridge on Friday.
“It’s real sad, so sad,” Brown said, shaking his head. “Especially during the holidays. That’s a horrible thing.”
Both Ainsworth and Jacqueline were born in Jamaica, but they had lived in Stone Mountain for at least 15 years, Foster said.
The bakery was closed Friday with a sign on the door that said “We apologize for the inconvenience but the Golden Krust will be closed until further notice due to an emergency that has taken place today.” Bouquets of flowers were propped against the darkened glass of the storefront.
Foster said Nicole Mallett suffered minor injuries of a bruised or cut lip and a scrape to her hand. She said the teenager was treated at New Jersey hospital and released into the custody of her uncle.
According to friends, the Malletts were returning to the Atlanta area after visiting Ainsworth’s ailing mother, Prudencia Mallett, 82, in Connecticut. A woman who identified herself as a close family friend answered the phone at the mother’s home Friday. She said relatives did not want to talk, adding that “right now, we’re just trying to process what’s happened.” She said no funeral arrangements had been made yet.
New Jersey State Police spokesman Sgt. Adam Grossman said traffic had slowed just ahead of the Toyota Camry, but the driver of the tractor-trailer traveling behind it couldn’t brake fast enough to avoid hitting the car.
Grossman said the accident is still under investigation and no charges had been filed yet.
* Staff writers Fran Jeffries and Mike Morris contributed to this story.
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