A British man is the the only survivor from a tragic family holiday as he stayed home alone in their rental villa while his loved ones visited tourist attractions.
The unnamed man was expecting his family home after they drove to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday.
But when they did not return, he contacted local police who were already on their way to tell him his loved ones had been wiped out in a terrifying road accident .
Facebook Maryanne Stephenson’s mother has said that the family are shocked by the deaths His brother, Bristol man and Liverpool fan Adam Stephenson, 30, had been driving his wife Maryanne Stephenson, 29, and his parents Bryan Stephenson, 59, and Sheralyn Stephenson, 56, back to their holiday villa after seeing a SpaceX rocket launch.
But police said their GPS advised them to make a U turn to avoid traffic , and when he pulled out at an intersection, he drove straight into the path of a heavy-duty pickup truck in Titusville.
Mr Stephenson’s unnamed brother had chosen not to visit the Kennedy Space Center that day and remained at their rental home in Davenport, Florida.
Titusville Police Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson said: We only know of one family member that stayed behind. He didn’t take the trip to Kennedy Space Center. He stayed behind.
When he noticed they didn’t return he called local law enforcement but they were already on their way to notify him.
He lost his brother, sister in law, his mum and his dad.
The family had reportedly travelled to Florida several times before.
Adam and Maryanne were believed to have got married in 2015. Last night, victim Maryanne Stephenson’s mother Nanette Drake said: We have had a massive shock. On Facebook friend Paul Budd wrote: RIP Adam Stephenson and family.
The heavy duty black Ford pickup truck smashed into the British family’s rented Mitsubishi Sedan after they turned left at an intersection and straight into the truck’s path, police said.
The family was pronounced dead at the scene in Sisson Road on the SR-405 intersection in Titusville, Florida.
Emergency services had to use the Jaws of Life hydraulic rescue machine to remove the victims’ bodies from the wreckage, WFTV reports.
The GPS instructed the driver to make a U-turn at the intersection where the family fatally crashed, officers said.
Police speculate that the device may have re-routed the family, instructing them to make the turn to avoid traffic caused by an earlier car crash in the area.
One hour before the deadly the crash, the family had watched SpaceX launch its Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Center, police said.
Deputy Chief Hutchinson said: The driver of the car was a male, the passenger was the wife of the driver and the driver’s parents were in the back seat.
It had instructed them to do a U-turn at that location, which was an intersection. It told them to go the other way because there was a crash up ahead of them.
They were in the process of making that U-turn at the time of the collision.
The vehicle they collided with was a heavy duty Ford pick up truck driven by a local man who said that the vehicle pulled right in front of him and there was nothing he could do.
Locals were quick to point out the dangers of the spot in Titusville blaming bushes from blocking visibility.
Visibility blocked by the bushes that were put in the medians. Penny Levine added: The bushes should be ripped out and never replaced.
You have to get part way into the oncoming lane to see if you can continue turning.
The preliminary investigation reveals that the driver of a white Mitsubishi sedan, Adam P Stephenson, 30, of Bristol, England, was traveling west on SR 405, made a left turn at the intersection of Sisson Road, into the path of an eastbound black Ford F-250 pickup truck.
All four occupants of the sedan were pronounced deceased at the scene by arriving medical personnel.
The passengers have been identified as Maryanne Stephenson, 29; Brian Stephenson, 66; and Sheralyn T. Stephenson, 56 -all from Bristol, England.
GPS in the vehicle was instructing a U-turn at the intersection, most likely because of an earlier crash with road blockage on SR 407 -which was the original GPS route from the Space Center for their trip back to Davenport.
This crash remains under investigation by the Titusville Police Department.