Hellayna King’s aunt has spoken out about the agonizing wait for help after the 4-year-old was run over by a tractor on her family’s Kentucky farm.
LaDonna Lovings told WKYT that emergency crews took roughly 45 minutes to reach the dying girl because a nearby bridge was closed, leaving the family to hold her as she suffered. The child, whose full name was Hellayna Michelle King, had been riding on an attachment rigged to the back of the tractor when the vehicle stopped suddenly and she fell forward onto the ground, Clark County Coroner Neal Oliver said Friday.
The coroner confirmed the manner of death to The Post. Hellayna was one of four children and was just weeks shy of her fifth birthday, which would have fallen on October 5.
Her family remembered her in an obituary as “full of life” and devoted to the farm she called home. “The farm was a special place for Layna, and she especially loved the cows,” they wrote. “She also loved to sing, filling the days with her sweet voice and happy spirit.”
Lovings made clear she was not certain faster response times would have changed the outcome, but she emphasized the cruelty of the circumstances. “If the bridge had been open, it would’ve taken them maybe 15, 20 minutes to get there,” she told WKYT. “And you know, it may have made a difference, and it may not have made a difference — but the fact that somebody was there to try and help her would’ve made a difference.”
The aunt also framed the loss in universal terms that she hoped might warn other families. “You know accidents happen all the time, and you just don’t think it’s going to happen to you,” Lovings said.
Hellayna’s mother, Rebecca Lovings, has turned to crowdfunding to cover the costs of an urn and other expenses tied to the family’s grief. On a GoFundMe page, she described the devastation of continuing without her daughter while remaining present for her surviving children.
“We are so heartbroken we have lost our world and don’t know how to carry on with our lives,” Rebecca Lovings wrote on the fundraiser. “But somehow [we] have to find a way as we have 3 other children who count on us everyday.”
The obituary captured the child’s exuberance across ordinary moments. “Whether she was outside playing, helping on the farm, or singing a favorite song, Layna embraced life with an energy and happiness that will be deeply missed by everyone who loved her,” the family said.
Lovings told WKYT that “words can’t express how much we miss her,” speaking for relatives now planning memorial arrangements while the bridge closure remains a painful footnote to their loss.