A California mother was sentenced to six years in prison this week for the 2018 train-related death of her 8-year-old daughter. According to Fresno police, Joy Frances Collins was headed to the bus stop with her daughter and son when they were blocked by an idling freight train. Although reports indicated the train had only been idling for less than a minute, Collins told her children to climb beneath a rail car to get to the other side.
Collins's son, then 9 years old, made it across, but as her daughter tried to complete the dangerous maneuver, the train began to move forward and the child was dragged over 500 feet. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The mother was arrested for child neglect likely to cause great bodily injury or death. She was found guilty of two counts of child abuse and endangerment in October 2023.
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According to witnesses, the girl called out for her mother as the train began to drag her.
According to Jerry Dyer, chief of the Fresno Police Department, Collins was afraid they would miss their bus, and even though the girl, named Joyanna, "was reluctant at first" she was "encouraged by the mother to cross the track."
A witness told Your Central Valley that in 2018 that she "heard the little girl say 'mom mom,' then I heard the train start up and I told my boyfriend to go help because there was a kid under the train."
During the trial, photos of the scene were so graphic they could not be shown on local news. The mother's defense attorney stated that "showing those gruesome photos to the jury, it inflamed their emotions, and they couldn't put that aside in deciding the actual issues in the case," ABC 30 reported.
After being found guilty, Collins begged for judicial mercy.
Collins, who is now 49 years old, acknowledged she made a horrible mistake by encouraging her children to cross under the train, something they had done previous times without injury. She pleaded with the judge to show her mercy, stating, "There's not a day that goes by that I don't regret any of that, and I do. And I beg for your mercy so I won't have to go into a prison," per ABC 30.
She also apologized for what happened, saying, "I very much apologize, like I said, to the public and everything for all that happened during that time."
The judge declined her request to be given probation.
Collins will serve her time in a California prison, while her son, who is now a teenager, will be in the custody of his grandparents.
Sadly, the last words little Joyanna may have heard were her mother saying, "Hurry up!" as she hesitated to cross under the train, according to People.
