A woman and child are dead after the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said the woman jumped from an interstate overpass with the child early Monday morning, according to several media outlets.
Investigators said it happened just after midnight Monday at the I-40 and exit 93 overpass. Witnesses called 911 saying the woman tried to run into a gas pump at a gas station in the 100 block of Law Road in Madison County, Tennessee. The callers told dispatchers the woman got out of the vehicle with a small child, walked to the overpass, and disappeared.
A few minutes later, a truck driver called dispatch saying something fell from the overpass and hit his truck as he was traveling westbound on I-40. Deputies who responded found the woman and child dead in the roadway.
Police identified the woman as 24-year-old Tonisha Lashay Barker. The child’s identity was not released.
“It’s heartbreaking to have that situation this morning, especially when someone loses their life,” Madison County Sheriff John Mehr told local media. “It’s hard on everybody, especially the driver of the vehicle. It’s just a bad situation that we hate to ever receive.”
So far, investigators don’t have a cause or motive for this incident, and say it is an ongoing investigation.