Actress Jessica Falkholt and her three family members died in a horror crash. Photo / Supplied
Actress Jessica Falkholt and her three family members died in a horror crash. Photo / Supplied
Home And Away's Jessica Falkholt was a star on the rise. But a driver's split-second mistake claimed her life and those of her entire family.
Fire billowed from two crumpled cars that had been thrown from a road bustling with holiday traffic on Boxing Day 2017.
It had been a clear summer morning but thick, black smoke was now being sent high into the air like a grim beacon for help.
On the asphalt, passing strangers who came across the chaotic scene scrambled to help two young women who had been pulled from one of the vehicles just before flames spread.
One of the gravely wounded women was Home And Away actor Jessica Falkholt, the other was her younger sister Annabelle.
The Falkholt family on Christmas Day, 2017, before the horrific Boxing Day crash. Photo / Facebook
They had suffered horrific injuries in a high-speed crash they had no way of preventing.
Just moments earlier, the white Mazda four-wheel-drive the Falkholts had been in was cruising along a winding road, with tall green trees on either side of the single-lane Princes Highway.
In the back seats were sisters Jessica and Annabelle, with mum Vivian in the front and dad Lars behind the wheel.
The family had spent what would be their last Christmas together surrounded by extended family on the NSW south coast.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a blue Toyota ute coming the other way flew into their lane and slammed headfirst into the Falkholts' car near Bendalong Rd.
Craig Anthony Whitall, 50, caused the fiery crash. Photo / 7 News
Drug-addled driver Craig Anthony Whitall had failed to negotiate a bend and — in a split-second error — careered into the Mazda with such force both cars were lifted from the ground and formed a triangle with the road.
By the time they fell back to the earth, and flames began to flicker under the bonnets, heroic witnesses were already running toward the cars fearing the worst.
One man, Roger Thomas, rushed to Whitall's side and held his hand as the 50-year-old died.
Thomas then turned his attention to the Mazda and helped pull Jessica, 28, from the back seat.
Jessica Falkholt in a scene from Home And Away. Photo / Channel 7
Thomas worked together with and Lisa Elmas, Martin Jones, Angus Mills, Bryce Hearnden and Darrin Collier to haul Jessica and Annabelle, 21, from the car.
There had been talk that moving them could be fatal but others argued they would die if left in a vehicle that would soon be engulfed in fire.
In the front seats Vivian, 60, and Lars, 69, were already dead.
Elmas wanted to remove them from the car too but knew she had to protect herself as the flames intensified.
Seconds later there was a boom as the Mazda exploded.
A police officer would say the fire was so intense it melted the spare tyres in the boot and left almost nothing for investigators to recover.
"It was totally destroyed," Senior Constable Christopher Warren said.
Lars and Vivian died at the scene, while Annabelle fought for three days. Photo / David Swift
An inquest would later hear those good Samaritans witnessed "truly horrific" scenes and many may still be traumatised by the graphic views that awaited them inside the cars.
Off-duty nurse Rhianna Bunna and holidaying paramedic Aaron McNeil provided first aid to the sisters before they were rushed to hospital in critical conditions.
They would never leave the hospital and succumbed to their injuries; Annabelle fought for three days before dying.
Jessica, who won hearts as Hope Morrison over 16 episodes in Summer Bay and whose first feature film was to be released in a matter of months, fought for three weeks but didn't make it.
The day before the crash, a photo was posted to Facebook showing the Falkholts together smiling with idyllic greenery in the background.
They were headed back to Sydney after their last holiday together for a family Christmas event when the tragic crash occurred just south of Sussex Inlet.
Mourners at the funeral of Lars, Vivian and Annabelle Falkholt on January 10, 2018. Photo / News Corp Australia
Lars and Vivian were only weeks away from celebrating their 70th and 61st birthdays respectively, which no doubt would have called for another family celebration.
Vivian's brother Paul Ponticello joked at the trio's funeral at St Mary's Catholic Church in Sydney that his brother-in-law Lars was such a careful driver they joked about how slow he was.
"Whenever he asked me how long it would take to drive somewhere, I would suggest an average for a normal driver and then some additional time for the Lars Factor," he told an army of mourners.
Ponticello said it made no sense for the Falkholts' lives to have ended on that highway.
Meanwhile, Jessica remained in an induced coma at St George Hospital unaware her family had died, and been buried, as she clung to her own life for three weeks.
She was later farewelled at her own funeral, at the same church as her parents and sister, 12 days later on January 22.
Jessica Falkholt died on January 17, 2018. Photo / Supplied
Ponticello called her a "rising star" who had begun to fulfil her acting dreams and made her family proud.
Back on Christmas Day, Whitall visited his mother two or three times and took her to check on his sister's cat while she was away.
He told his mum, who had become worried about his health in recent months, that he would be back again to see her tomorrow.
Mrs Whitall told his doctors she never feared for her safety, but was concerned for her son, who had been rapidly losing weight.
The inquest into his death heard his life was unravelling and he was barely eating at the time.
He had been on a methadone programme since 1990 but was now abusing Valium and anti-depression medication, while also taking illegal drugs such as ice.
The inquest heard Craig Whitall loved his family, who missed him dearly. Photo / 7 News
On the day of the crash he was returning home to Ulladulla after visiting Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital in an attempt to get his hands on methadone.
A doctor said he was acting aggressively but she believed his story that he was experiencing methadone withdrawals and prescribed him four Valium tablets to help him.
The doctor told him to only take one at a time and to space them out over the day.
She offered him a sandwich and drink but he declined and left the hospital in his Toyota Prado, heading south along the Princes Highway.
Witnesses said he was driving erratically, hitting high speeds and overtaking vehicles including one towing a caravan with dangerously little space.
He had a cocktail of prescription and illegal drugs in his system, including a dose of antidepressant Deptran that was so high it would be fatal to most people.
Then, at 10.42am, he crossed onto the other side of the road and destroyed his and the Falkholt family's lives.
