A 30-year-old woman from Pink Hill was killed and a two-year-old child was injured when a single vehicle left A.I. Taylor Road in Onslow County, struck a tree and burst into flames last Friday night. Kristina Rowe, the front-seat passenger, was trapped in the car and pronounced dead at the scene, while the toddler, restrained in a car seat in the back, was pulled from the wreck and later flown to Chapel Hill for burn treatment.
According to WCTI, the crash happened at approximately 8:25 p.m. on October 30. WITN reported that troopers were called to the scene before 8:30 p.m. that Friday.
Car Left the Road Before Hitting a Tree
Citing the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, WCTI reported that 28-year-old driver Austin Simpson, of Hubert, was traveling north at a high rate of speed when his vehicle left the road, struck a culvert and then a tree. The station's report says the vehicle caught fire following the impact. WITN's account, also attributed to the Highway Patrol, similarly describes the car traveling north when it ran off the road, struck a tree and caught fire, though its telling does not mention a culvert.
Rowe, described in the same account as a 30-year-old passenger from Pink Hill, was trapped inside the burning vehicle and could not escape before she was pronounced dead at the scene. Simpson managed to escape the vehicle and was taken to Naval Medical Center for treatment, per the WCTI report. WITN specified that Simpson was taken to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune with burns and injuries, according to the Highway Patrol.
Toddler Pulled From Burning Car, Flown for Burn Care
The two-year-old child was restrained in a car seat in the back of the vehicle when the crash occurred, and despite being trapped, the child made it out of the burning car, WITN reported. WCTI's account states the child was rescued and airlifted to Chapel Hill, where the toddler received treatment for burn injuries.
No further details on the child's identity or current condition have been released. The evidence available does not establish whether Simpson faces any charges or citations in connection with the crash, nor does it specify an exact speed or a definitive cause determination beyond the Highway Patrol's description of events.
Speeding Remains a Statewide Concern
North Carolina's 2024 Traffic Crash Facts material, compiled by the Traffic Records Unit and Traffic Safety Unit and hosted at connect.ncdot.gov, says statewide fatalities increased 2.7% from 2023. It describes the 21.4% of fatalities related to speeding as a slight improvement and points to speeding and distracted driving as behaviors that continue to fuel deadly crashes. The document includes a County Crash Data section with 2024 County Profiles, offering county-specific crash information relevant to Onslow County, and its broader framing underscores the kind of high-speed, single-vehicle wreck that investigators described on A.I. Taylor Road.
