Five teenagers lost their lives and two others were injured in a devastating high-profile traffic collision on Shirley Street, The Bahamas, last month – the deadliest road accident the nation has seen in at least two decades. Among the victims were 19-year-old Stania Webb and 17-year-old Diamond Stubbs, two lifelong best friends whose bond stretched from childhood on Cat Island through Stania’s college years. Now, Stania’s grieving father, Stanley Webb, is honoring their unbreakable connection by building matching adjacent mausoleums for the pair in a Cat Island cemetery, with support from his family and a groundswell of local volunteers.
Stania and Diamond grew up steps away from each other on Cat Island, and their friendship never wavered even after Stania graduated high school and moved away for college. Every time Stania returned home, she would spend one to two weeks staying with Diamond, relaxing and enjoying their shared time together. When the two young women died alongside three other teenagers in the June 28 crash, Stanley knew they could not be separated in death.
The 19-year-old driver of the vehicle involved, Marcus Thacker Jr, faces five counts of vehicular manslaughter in connection with the crash. The other victims killed were 19-year-old Keno Gordon Jr, 18-year-old Bertrica Brown, and 19-year-old Evalena Johnson. Two additional crash survivors – 21-year-old Shawn Thurston and Bianca Mathurin – remain hospitalized recovering from their injuries.
Unlike traditional underground burials, which Stanley said he fears could become hard to locate or access decades in the future, the above-ground mausoleums will give him a dedicated space to visit his daughter and his goddaughter Diamond. “I wanted just to put something there in the cemetery where I could come back,” he explained. “You know, sit down or drop a rose and be able to know exactly where she is on her birthday or some days I just might want to come and say hello.” After reworking his original design, Stanley now plans to build the two mausoleums opposite one another, with a small flower garden filling the space between them.
The construction effort has been a community-led labor of love. Stanley’s two oldest sons, 25-year-old Teran and 21-year-old Ashstan, have worked alongside their father every step of the way, and hundreds of local residents have stepped up to volunteer their time, bringing food and water for the workers and helping with hands-on tasks like mixing cement. Stanley, who still has four surviving sons, said the outpouring of support has helped him carry on through his profound grief.
The pair will be laid to rest in the Cat Island mausoleums on July 25, with their bodies transported to the island the day prior. A public memorial service will be held for the two teens in New Providence on July 16 for anyone unable to travel to Cat Island for the burial. That same day, Bertrica Brown’s family will host a separate memorial for her in New Providence before moving her body to Abaco for her final burial.
In the wake of the tragedy, Stanley has issued a public warning to Nassau residents: reports of people soliciting cash donations on the street in his family’s name are not authorized. “We want the public at large to know that we didn’t authorise anybody to go on our behalf and ask for anything,” he stressed, adding that all volunteer support the project has received has been freely given out of community care, and he is deeply grateful to every person who has stepped forward to help.
Separately, Attorney General Wayne Munroe addressed the case with reporters this week, noting that convictions for dangerous driving that causes multiple deaths typically result in custodial sentences in The Bahamas. He cited a past case from Grand Bahama, where a young driver who sped off the road and killed three passengers was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a ruling that was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.