COOPER CITY – A family is mourning the loss of their daughter who died when she crashed into a Cooper City canal early Wednesday morning.
“She had so many plans for the future. She was going to start 2025 off great. She was saving money and paying for her own car, being responsible, she was a beautiful person,” said Blanche Pastore of her daughter Caitlyn Heron. “I just pray to God that he’s got his arms around her, that’s all I can say.”
“I lost my daughter. My little mouse. The feelings are…I can’t even bring to words. I’ll never be the same,” said Frank Heron, Caitlynn’s dad.
“I loved her, I loved her very much. She was my baby girl. She was my youngest out of four girls. Twenty-three is just way too young,” said Blanche Pastore.
“We’re Irish twins. We’re 11 months apart. So, for 12 days out of the year, we were the same age, so we were super close. I mean, that was my other half, I’ll never be a whole person again,” said Brianna Heron, Caitlynn’s sister.
“One of the greatest souls on the planet. A loving young woman who would help anybody, such a sweetheart,” said Frank Heron.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said around 6 a.m. they received a 911 about a vehicle going into a canal off Griffin Road at SW 90 Street, just east of Palm Avenue. The caller said his girlfriend had died.
When sheriff’s deputies and fire rescue arrived they found the car had slammed through a barrier on a bridge that spans the canal and ended up in the water.
“The Broward Sheriff’s Office dive team was called out and an immediate search was undertaken to try to locate the vehicle and anyone who may have been in that vehicle in the water,” said sheriff’s spokesman Carey Codd.
The sheriff’s office said the man who called had been a passenger in the car, and he was able to make it out of the vehicle. The man was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to be okay.
Heron, however, did not make it out.
Pastore said she rushed to the scene after getting a call.
“We got a call because her boyfriend was in the car and his mom called my other daughter and my daughter called me and they identified her by matching tattoos.”
Sheriff’s dive teams found the car and Heron, but were unable to save her.
“Obviously when a vehicle enters a waterway, it is a very difficult and time consuming and sensitive process. The initial goal is to try to rescue anyone who can be rescued and who can be saved. Obviously, this water is very murky. There’s a lot of challenges with going into a waterway to try to conduct that type of rescue operation,” said Codd.
The sheriff’s office closed the westbound lanes of Griffin Road from Pine Island Road to the SW 88 Terrace for several hours while the car was removed from the water. Her distraught family watched from the canal bank.
What led to the crash is under investigation.
BSO was urging any witnesses or anyone with cell phone video that can help to come forward.
There will be a candlelight vigil for Caitlynn on Friday night at 5 o’clock at her favorite bar, Geronimo’s Grill.
CBS News Miami first met Heron 2 1/2 years ago when Ted Scouten spoke to her about rising gasoline prices.
“I think it’s really terrible. … I think I have got to work more shifts at work just to cover the gas prices. If gas prices continue to increase, I think I will have to stop driving and ride a bike.”
