‘She brought joy’: Family mourns Edmonds woman killed in I-5 mattress crash

EDMONDS — Yohana Ayele wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Her older brother, Abiud, remembers a time when a teacher put him in detention in their home country of Ethiopia. But Yohana Ayele, maybe 4 or 5 at the time, stood up for her brother.

“Hey, that’s my brother,” she shouted at the teacher. “You can’t do that to him. … You can’t talk to my brother like that.”

Yohana Ayele, 20, died earlier this month as she was driving on I-5, on her way home from a friend’s house. A mattress fell off of an unidentified truck in front of her. She struck the mattress, then swerved in front of a semi-truck, according to the Washington State Patrol.

As of Friday, the driver of that truck had not been found, frustrating Ayele’s family.

“Absolutely nothing will bring her back,” Abiud Ayele said. “But (that driver) took a life. This sort of thing should have never happened.”

The truck was described as older, dark colored, similar in size to a Ford Ranger with wood panels in its bed, said Trooper Jacob Kennett.

In 2019, state patrol investigated 154 collisions caused by unsecured loads. And almost 7,400 motorists were contacted for failing to secure items in their vehicle.

Being the driver of an unsecured load that causes serious injury or death can lead to a fine and jail time. In certain cases, prosecutors could charge someone with reckless endangerment or vehicular homicide, Kennett said.

Family members described Yohana Ayele as caring, welcoming and selfless with a smile that could brighten your day.

The South Seattle College student would bring home food for her brother from her job at Qdoba. She’d go shopping on a tight, college student’s budget and still buy things for people.

These are the memories Abiud Ayele thinks about now that his sister is gone.

“She was a really down to earth kind of sister,” Abiud Ayele said. “I’m really mad I lost her.”

Her cousin, Fiker Tameru, said they would tell each other everything in phone calls every other night. When she was dealing with challenges, Yohana Ayele made her feel better, she said.

“She always made me feel like everything was going to be OK,” Tameru said. ”She gave me reassurance and I feel like she did that to a lot of people. She brought joy in a lot of people’s life.”

Yohana Ayele was free-spirited, always dancing and making jokes, Tameru said. She could be going through tough times, but “you wouldn’t know at all. You would think she was the happiest person ever.”

Tameru said it hasn’t quite sunk in that her cousin is gone.

A couple of years ago, Yohana Ayele moved from Ethiopia to Edmonds with her brother and another cousin. It was hard for her, leaving all her friends behind.

But she had high hopes in Washington. The trio started a small coffee business importing beans from Ethiopia for local supermarkets. They wanted to have their own coffee shop by the end of this year. And she wanted to eventually work in the tech industry.

Yohana Ayele and Tameru were planning to live together and go to college later this year.

“I had plans to do everything with her,” Tameru said. “So now I’m just, like ‘What am I going to do now?’”

Since her death, her friends back in Ethiopia have reached out to Abiud. They’re heartbroken.

The family planned to take Yohana Ayele’s remains back to their home country for memorial services.

She would’ve turned 21 next month.

“She was just starting to taste what life has to offer,” Abiud Ayele said.

Detectives continued Friday to investigate the crash. Anyone with information can contact Detective Daniel Comnick at 360-654-1204.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.