Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
REXBURG — One year ago Wednesday, Mindi Bischoff received the worst call of her life.
Her daughter Abbi Bischoff, who had just celebrated her 20th birthday, was gone and her best friend, Skye Hackman, was fighting for her life in a hospital room across the country.
"Our last words to each other were 'I love you,' and I will be forever grateful for that," Mindi Bischoff says through tears. "I just kept thinking that it can't be real."
Bischoff has never spoken publicly about what happened on Aug. 21, 2023, and Hackman has spent the last year grieving while wondering how things would be different had an elderly driver not been behind the wheel of her car that day.
"That accident was 1,000% preventable and should not have happened," Bischoff says.
Abbi and Skye – forever friends
To say Abbi Bischoff loved life is an understatement. The Madison High School graduate made friends wherever she went, her nieces and nephews adored her and she had just been accepted into the Pensacola State College Cosmetology program in Florida.
"I just remember telling my five other kids that she was so happy," Mindi Bischoff recalls.
Abbi Bischoff and Hackman met playing softball in high school and became inseparable working and living together in West Yellowstone over the summer of 2023.
Last August, Bischoff asked Hackman if she would help her move from Idaho to Florida, and they planned an unforgettable road trip.
"We decided we would stop in Nashville on our way because she was going to be turning 20, and she wanted to be in Nashville waking up there on her birthday," Hackman tells EastIdahoNews.com. "We pulled into Nashville, Tennessee, at 12:18 a.m."
They made their way to the Sunshine State and spent several days on the beach, eating Bischoff's favorite, Nothing Bundt Cake, and exploring her new home.
"She also had a sister and her family that lived there, so she was excited to be only minutes away knowing that she was on her own but being able to visit family if she got homesick," Mindi Bischoff explains.
After a few days, Hackman was set to fly home to her husband in Idaho. Before they left for the airport, Abbi Bischoff called her mom.
"The phone rang at work, and I said, 'I better let you go.' She said, 'Mom, I'm so excited! I have so many things to tell you and as soon as I drop Skye off; we can talk as I'm driving back," Bischoff says.
Bischoff and Hackman took a photo together — not knowing it would be their last, and Abbi added a caption that said, 'Last one for a while.' They hugged and prepared to leave.
"She said, 'I really hate goodbyes,' and I said me too. She said, 'This isn't a goodbye. You'll feel me,'" Hackman recalls. "I remember walking my suitcase out to the car, and that's the last thing I remember from that day."
The crash
Bischoff was driving her car, and Hackman was in the passenger seat. A few minutes into their drive, they stopped at a red light when, out of nowhere, a Jeep slammed into them.
The diagram below from the Florida Highway Patrol shows what happened. Bischoff and Hackman were in vehicle No. 2. The driver of the Jeep, No. 1, not only hit the young women but caused a chain reaction crash with four other vehicles.
The speed limit on the road is 45 mph. The crash report shows the driver of the Jeep, a 76-year-old woman, was going 60 mph and was "inattentive."
"At 12:03 p.m., an alert popped up on my phone saying a crash had been detected on Abbi's car. I was so startled I immediately called her, and there was no answer. I immediately called Skye because if Skye's with her, she'll know what happened. No answer," Bischoff says.
Hackman doesn't remember much except a woman named Donna standing outside the car and yelling, "Can you move?"
"She said, 'Do you have a phone number I can call,' and from memory, I said my mom's phone number and my husband's phone number," Hackman says. "I had been thrown into Abbi's seat and my head was pinned between her back and her seat. I was down by the bottom of her seat and my legs were above me."
Mindi Bischoff and her other children were frantically communicating and those in Idaho agreed to meet at her son's house in Idaho Falls. Her son-in-law in Florida, who Abbi Bischoff and Hackman had visited that week, rushed to the scene of the crash. He was told the victims had been taken to three hospitals so he went to be with Hackman, hoping Abbi Bischoff was there too, while Mindi Bischoff and other family members contacted other hospitals.
"We kept calling and calling and none of them had an Abbigail Bischoff," Bischoff explains. "About 3 o'clock that day, I started to think, 'I wonder, I wonder.' I turned to my daughter-in-law and said, 'Do you think she's dead?' and she said not to think that way."
