ATLANTA — We're learning more about a local family that lost a father and four kids in a crash.
Their car crossed over the median of I-10 in the Florida Panhandle on Sunday.
The mother, Sabrina Turk, 32, who was driving, survived.
Troopers say no one in the car was wearing a seat belt, and five were ejected and died on scene.
Turk remains in critical condition.
A Ford F-150 pickup hit the car's passenger side, ejecting Turk's boyfriend, Lysander Smith, 43, from the passenger seat.
Smith was killed, along with her step-son, the oldest and big brother, L.J., 14.
Two boys, they called Trey and Q.T., ages 6 and 3 and her only daughter Epiphany,6, also were killed.
The two middle boys were not in the car and survived.
Police said Turk did not have valid license.
Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach talked to one of her friends about the huge loss.
"They grew a big part of my heart. They were great kids. Just always happy," family friend Porschia Shuler said.
Shuler knows the family and hosted all the kids for about four months when they lived in Barrow County for two years.
"I couldn't believe it,” Shuler said. “I said there's no way all four of them are dead. Just no way. They're too young."
She would bring the kids to Winder Christian church.
The two 6-year-olds went to County Line Elementary last year.
The oldest went to middle school before they all moved back to Alabama at the end of this summer.
Shuler said Turk, now in a Florida hospital and hanging onto her life, is still not aware of her kids' deaths.
She tried opening her eyes after multiple surgeries to put rods in both legs, remove her spleen, and control bleeding on the brain.
Her friend talked to Turk's sister and mother over the phone.
"As far as they know she fell asleep at the wheel,” Shuler said. “They don't know any more.”
The car crossed over the median of the interstate in Florida Sunday, smashing into an on-coming pickup truck.
The kids were thrown out.
Their grandmother told Shuler they did have seat belts on when they left.
"She's thinking maybe down the road they took it off to lay down on each other,” Shuler said. “She doesn't know, but she said they did have seat belts on. The parents did not."
But troopers in Florida said it likely would not have made a difference and saved the kids' lives.