Louisville man opens up to pastor about losing wife, daughter in car crash

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB NEWS) -- A Louisville man is still trying to heal after his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash nearly a year ago.

Four Louisville residents, including a firefighter, youth volleyball coach, and two young girls were killed in a crash just outside St. Louis last February. They were on their way to a volleyball tournament in Kansas City.

Justin Prather lost his wife Lesley and his 12-year-old daughter, Rhyan. Carrie McCaw and her daughter Kacey were also killed in the crash. The women coached for KIVA and their daughters played for the club.

Prather wasn't comfortable speaking with reporters, but he did give a candid interview to campus pastor Neal Gossett at Southeast Christian Church. Prather and the church gave WDRB News permission to share the interview.

In the interview, Prather recalled the day his world changed: February 14, 2020.

"February 13th I had a great wife, four healthy kids, great job, beautiful family around me, lots of friends," he said. "I had control of everything and then February 14th happened and I realized I had no control over anything."

Prather said he had a feeling something was wrong when he hadn't received replies to his text messages.

"I called some of our friends at the club, the coaches like 'Hey, have you heard from them?' and then I found out that they had both been in a fatal car wreck," Prather said. "It's so difficult even to this day and it probably always will be, but it's so hard to wrap my head around it."

Prather says the past year has been hard, but his three surviving children are what keep him going.

"I don't know where I get the strength to get out of my bed, but I look at my kids and I keep pushing," Prather said. "My good friend, um, actually told me early on he said, 'You'll get through this because the love of your kids outweighs your grief.' I hold on to that every single day."

Prather says the support from his church family at Southeast and the community has helped them push through.

"Just knowing that again that love is out there from complete strangers has compelled me to be a better person," he said.

Prather also also discussed digging into his faith and leaning on his relationship with God. He said it too has played a major role in his decision to keep moving forward.

"This past year, without God, I don't think that I would be here," Prather said. "There's a lot of dark moments with him, but I knew that he was by my side and guiding me ... and I'm going to make mistakes but he's been with me, and helping to point me in the right direction."

Lesley, Rhyan, Carrie and Kacey made a major impact on the Louisville community. Next week on WDRB News, we'll share how family and friends are working to honor their legacies and make a positive impact in their honor.