Coroner identifies woman killed in a two-car crash on US 278 Friday night in Bluffton
The woman who was killed Friday on U.S. 278 in Bluffton has been identified as a 22-year-old mother, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.
Alanna Ward, of Hardeeville, died in a two-vehicle crash on Friday, Beaufort County Deputy Coroner Debbie Youmans said. Ward was pronounced dead at the scene, Youmans said.
Ward was heading west toward Hardeeville on U.S. 278 at Buck Island Road around 10:15 p.m. when her car rear-ended a box truck, according to Bluffton Police Department spokesperson Lt. Christian Gonzales. The crash is still under investigation by the Bluffton Police Department but any “contributing factors are still being investigated,” Gonzales said. Gonzales did not know whether the truck driver had been injured in the crash, he said.
Ward’s friends and family have flooded her Facebook page with messages about the young mother who they remembered as a “special person” who will be “missed forever.” One user wrote in a memorial post that Ward “was so happy n excited to have a girl n be a momma.”
A GoFundMe page set up to help her family cover funeral costs said Ward was “loving and caring and willing to help anyone.” She leaves behind a 3-month-old daughter, according to the page.
At least nine others died on South Carolina roadways over the weekend, according to data from the Department of Public Safety. Approximately 19 people have died in crashes in Beaufort County in 2021, according to the data.
An autopsy for Ward has been scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Youmans said.
