ATOKA, Tenn. — A Tennessee mother was killed in a wreck Monday after authorities say she stole a county-owned truck from Memphis, put her daughter and adopted children inside, and drove to Arkansas because they were “possessed by demons.”
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said 41-year-old Rosalind Craig was killed around 5:30 a.m. when the Chevrolet Silverado she was driving slammed head-on into a Union Pacific utility truck on a two-lane road north of Little Rock. A witness said Craig’s truck crossed the center line, according to WREG.
The sheriff’s office said the passengers in Craig’s truck included her daughter, a friend and her adopted children. They, along with the driver of the Union Pacific truck, were taken to hospitals but their injuries were not serious.
According to witnesses, Craig stole a Shelby County-owned truck with government plates and then drove aimlessly through Arkansas.
Craig told her passengers she was “taking them on the other side of Heaven to meet Jesus” and that they were “leaving the Memphis area due to being possessed by demons,” according to witness reports.
Craig’s friends were stunned by the news.
“She loved her kids. This is just not in her character at all,” Jossie Dunlap told WREG.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said the truck was a non-emergency sheriff’s vehicle that was stolen around 11 p.m. Sunday from their location in the 1000 block of Mullins Station in Memphis.
Lt. Anthony Buckner with SCSO said Craig had no ties to the sheriff’s department and they are reviewing video to see how the truck was stolen.
Craig’s family members say they’re saddened and confused. They said they didn’t think she would have intentionally put her children in danger. And they also don’t understand why she would’ve stolen a vehicle, especially when she had two of her own.
A day before she died, Craig’s mother called police to her home after an altercation with her daughter and her daughter’s friend.
“[Rosalind] was telling my kids there were demons in the house, and I had demons in me. She looked like … she looked evil,” Craig’s mother said.
For now, Craig’s children are with Department of Children’s Services.
