Pregnant Linden woman, unborn child die in Warren County crash

Police car on the street at night

WARREN COUNTY – A pregnant Linden woman traveling in a car with her husband and children died in a Warren County car crash Monday evening, according to Virginia State Police.

Virginia State Police Sgt. F. “Les” Tyler said that Aimee Nicole Shemwell, 29, was in the passenger seat of a 2004 GMC Yukon SUV as the vehicle traveled southbound on Winchester Road. Her husband, Michael Spencer Shemwell, 29, also of Linden, was driving the SUV and made a left turn onto Country Club Road when a tractor trailer traveling northbound collided with the family’s car.

The Shemwells’ four children were also in the vehicle at the time of the 7:15 p.m. accident. One child was flown to INOVA Fairfax Hospital and the other three were taken to Warren Memorial Hospital.

The tractor trailer driver, Frankie Donnie Breeding, 57, of Luray, was also transported to Warren Memorial Hospital.

Sgt. Tyler said that all passengers in the Yukon were properly restrained.

 Tyler said that an investigation by trooper K.J. Orr determined that the traffic signal for the southbound Yukon was red when it made the left turn and the northbound traffic in which the tractor trailer was traveling had a green light. 

The Warren County Sheriff’s Office and Warren County Fire and Rescue assisted trooper Orr at the scene, while the Virginia Department of Transportation assisted with traffic control.

According to a family friend, Mr. Shemwell and his three older children had been released from the hospital as of Wednesday evening.  The youngest child, a baby, remains hospitalized and is expected to recover.

Best-selling author Jason F. Wright, who attends church with the family, has started a gofundme account to help the family.  Wright used Spencer Shemwell and baby Bexley as models in the book A Letter to Mary that he and wife Kodi Erekson Wright co-wrote. 

The Wrights have decided to rededicate the book and give 100-percent of the proceeds to the Shemwell family.