US family die after teen driver falls asleep behind the wheel and car plunges off cliff

The Miller family - (from left) Delilah, Jack, Calvin and Dakota - died when their car left the road and plunged into the Salmon River in Idaho.

Four members of the same family died after their 17-year-daughter fell asleep behind the wheel, sending the car plunging off a cliff into the river below.

The dead were Calvin “CJ” Miller, 36, and his three children, Dakota Miller, 17, Jack Miller, 10, and Delilah Miller, 8.

The accident occurred last Saturday on the Salmon River in Idaho, north of the town of Riggins, and details of the crash have been released by the Idaho County Coroner’s office.

Sheriff’s deputies believe Dakota was tired and fell asleep, according to the accident report released this week.

“Due to this, Dakota drove off the highway, striking a large pile of rocks sending the vehicle airborne,” the report said. “The vehicle struck another large pile of rocks, flipping the vehicle over end and landing upside down in the Salmon River.”

Deputies believe water filled the vehicle through a broken window, causing the family to drown, the report said.

A fisherman later found the car upside down and partially submerged.

Zella Blair, the mother of Jack and Delilah, told KREM News she was still coming to terms with the enormity of her loss.

“I don’t know if I can get used to them not coming through the door after school and yelling for me again,” Blair said. “They were huge. They were my whole life.”

She revealed that her former partner, their children and his older daughter from a previous relationship were travelling to see his elderly father in a hospice when they crashed.

She had not known they were making the trip and only found out when Miller’s current partner broke the news that they never reached their destination.

“I just dropped to my knees . . . I just started crying,” Blair told KREM. “I just couldn’t believe it.”

“I’m just gonna miss so much, just being able to just go give them a hug and go give them a kiss and talk to them about their day.

“And just little conversations because it just, it just made my heart full. You know, just to hear all the little things they were learning and everything they were becoming, you know, day by day.”

- Additional reporting, AP