UPDATE: Angelica Bryan’s older sister has set up a GoFundMe to help fund Angelica’s memorial.

“This tragedy has left us all feeling empty and helpless. Asking for help is something our family isn’t very good at, but in this case, we just want to be able to give her the memorial she deserves,” she wrote.

13-year-old Angelica Bryan has been identified by the Minnesota BCA as the teenager who was killed in an Itasca County Sheriff’s chase that ended in a fatal crash.

According to the Itasca County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy witnessed a vehicle driving without headlights on County Road 63 in western Cohasset Township. The deputy attempted to pull over the vehicle, but the driver fled, and the deputy gave chase.

During the pursuit, the fleeing vehicle crashed in the area of Highway 6 and County Road 11 around 1:30 a.m. The driver, 13-year-old Angelica Bryan, was the only one in the vehicle, and died at the scene as a result of the crash.

Hubbard sister station KSTP heard from a family member who believes the teen was running from her foster home.

“She was funny, loving, outgoing and she loved everybody. She liked to spend time outside. She liked to play with her siblings. She was a very, very courageous little girl,” Jeannie Wittner, Angelica’s mother, said. “I’m brokenhearted, that’s my baby girl, my only baby girl.”

Wittner said she believes Angelica was attempting to drive from her foster family in Grand Rapids to her house in Cass County. Wittner explained Angelica was placed with the foster family hours before the pursuit and deadly crash.

“She told me she wanted to be, earlier in the night, just home in her bed,” Wittner said.

Wittner told Hubbard sister station KSTP she “has no idea” how her daughter found a car.

The Itasca County Sheriff’s Department’s pursuit policy was last updated in 2024. It says deputies have discretion on when to initiate and terminate a pursuit. It’s based on a variety of factors, including the seriousness of the crime that initiated the chase and public safety.

“I think she was more scared than anything, just wanted to come home,” Wittner said. “Didn’t know anybody where she was at, didn’t even barely know the town she was in.”

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is still investigating. The sheriff’s office is not offering additional comments at this time.