Jacob Evans, who was left to raise his six children alone after his wife was killed by a drunk driver in 2017, looked back on his journey over the last two years and shared the message he has for the driver during the latest “The Way Out Recovery Hour” on KHTS.

Evans’ story began with the birth of his premature twin daughters, Hannah and Sarah, who arrived more than three months early in August 2017. Evans and his wife, Katie Evans, knew that the girls had a grim chance of survival, but refused to give up on them.

Katie Evans holding her premature twin girls, Sarah and Hannah, before her death.

“Just a few days before they were born, we had a doctor … tell us, ‘They’re not going to make it. We should just abort them now,’” Evans recalled. “Katie and I looked at each other and we said, ‘You know what? We want to give these girls every chance at life that we possibly can.’” 

Related: One-Year Anniversary Of Mother Of Six Katie Evans Death In DUI Crash

After being transferred to the NICU at UCLA, the twins were successfully delivered on Aug. 13, 2017, but were dependant on oxygen and feeding tubes. Evans noted that Katie had read studies showing that NICU babies had a higher chance of survival if their mothers were with them, and so she made the three-hour roundtrip drive to visit them every day. 

It was around 11 p.m. on the night of Oct. 6, 2017 when then 37-year-old Katie called Evans from the hospital because she was feeling frustrated, and Evans recalled telling his wife that she was exhausted and would feel better in the morning if she came home to sleep.

But Katie never made it home that night. She was driving down Golden Valley Road only a mile away from her house when she was hit by a drunk driver, then 21-year-old Alexia Cina, whose blood alcohol content was found to be almost three times the legal limit. 

The scene of the fatal crash on Golden Valley Road that killed Katie Evans.

“(Alexia) was going way in excess of the speed limit. There was another car that she was trying to get around. She lost complete control, jumped the median and hit Katie’s car like a rocket,” Evans said. “The damage to the car (Katie) was in was incredible… I mean, she never had a chance.” 

Related: Golden Valley Collision Victim Was Heading Home After Visiting Children In The Hospital

Before learning of the crash, Evans remembered starting to worry when midnight came and went with no sign of Katie. Her phone went straight to voicemail, and by 1 a.m., Evans said he was “going nuts.”

“I was just pacing like crazy trying to figure out, at what point do I call somebody?” he said. “I have a friend at church who is a police officer, and after it had been a couple hours, I called him.”

Katie had been pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, but the severity of her injuries made it difficult for officials to positively identify her. Though Evans said he was able to piece together what had happened by about 2:30 a.m., it was hours before Coroner’s officials confirmed what he said he already knew while he was surrounded by friends and the bishop at his church. 

“I was up all night. I was trying to think, ‘What am I going to tell the kids? What am I going to do with the kids?’” Evans said. “I didn’t want to ruin their last good night’s sleep of believing their mom was alive, so we waited for them to get up, we gave them a really good breakfast and I had to give them the news and have them crying their little hearts out.” 

Though his grief “completely incapacitated” him at times in the days following the loss of his wife, Evans noted that his top priority had to be making sure that his four boys, who ranged in age from 2 to 12, and 2-month-old twin girls were taken care of. 

Jacob and Katie Evans with their four sons.

“There were a lot of realities that needed to be addressed, and a lot of them had to happen really fast,” he said. “Some of my business experience actually helped me go into crisis management mode right away and determine what things I could delegate, what things I couldn’t. I was also very fortunate that there were a lot of people from the community who reached out and were eager to help.” 

Related: Facebook Page Supporting Family Of Santa Clarita Mother Of 6 Killed In DUI Crash, Katie Evans, Launched

Evans’ niece, who had just started college in Utah, decided to take the next eight months off from school and moved in to help with the children around the clock while the Santa Clarita community rallied around the family. 

“One of the things I tried to do for the kids was focus on the positive, that they had a front row seat to see the good that was in the world,” Evans said. “I was making a list of kindnesses that were done to our family, … and the list got so long, I had to stop keeping it.” 

The kindness that stands out most to Evans is when his son’s friends decided to have a lemonade stand in support of the family, and raised $2,000 in a single day. 

“I was blown away (by) these two elementary school kids,” he said. “They raised $2,000. It was incredible. And granted a lot of that was the generosity of the people who came. I seem to recall there was one lady who bought a $100 cup of lemonade … and then she forgot to even pick up the lemonade. But when you have friends who are that thoughtful that they’re trying to figure out what they can do to help you out, it goes a really long way.” 

Sarah and Hannah Evans.

When Hannah and Sarah were released from the NICU over the next several months, Evans was able to hire nighttime nannies to administer medicine and monitor their oxygen and feeding tubes overnight, and the girls are thriving today.

Related: Husband Gives Family Update After Mother Of Six Katie Evans Killed In DUI Crash (VIDEO)

“They’re off oxygen, they’re off feeding tubes,” Evans said. “The irony is that these two girls that were supposed to die are alive and well… I wish Katie were here to see how well they’re doing, how full of life they are.” 

On July 6, 2018, Evans chose to attend the sentencing of the driver allegedly responsible for his wife’s death. In a plea deal, Alexia Cina agreed to plead no contest to one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in exchange for having the other charges against her dropped, including a murder charge.

“(Going to the sentencing) was important because I wanted to see her and I wanted to talk to her a little bit and share some things so she understood what she’d done, and also express my hope that she would pick up the pieces of her life,” Evans said. “(Katie) was really someone who loved people and she believed in second chances. I knew that it was important that I be there to share that message with (Alexia).”

Evans recalled “a lot of tears” in the courtroom that day, not only from his own family, but from Cina’s family and even the judge presiding over the case as well. Evans remembered sharing the deep grief he and his family experienced after losing Katie, as well as the many logistical challenges he faced in having to raise his six children alone. 

Alexia Cina, the drunk driver believed to be responsible for the crash that killed Katie Evans.

Evans shared part of the statement he read to Cina and the entire courtroom that day:

“It would be naive for me to believe my family was the only one hurt… I expect that this tragedy deeply hurt your family as well. I imagine that this has been difficult for you and your family, and for that, I am sincerely sorry. I forgive you for what you did, but my forgiveness will be worthless to you if you do not change, such that you never drive drunk again.”

Related: Alexia Cina Ordered To Serve 10 Years After DUI Crash That Killed Mother Of Six Katie Evans

“More than anything I wish we could bring Katie back. I wish we could undo all the hurt that was done on Oct. 6, but sadly, that’s not how the world works. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it… Alexia, it is my great hope that you will dedicate your life to making the world a better place, both because it will be good for the world and because it will be good for you.” 

After Katie’s family finished reading their statements before the court, Cina was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in state prison.

“One of the touching things for me was that you could tell that everyone in there was sincerely remorseful,” Evans said. “Afterwards, my family and her family, we all hugged each other. I hope that (her) family will come out of this stronger and pick up the pieces of their life the way that we’ve been picking up the pieces of our lives.” 

Jacob Evans with one of his twin girls at home.

Since Katie’s death, Evans has actively advocated against drinking and driving, and is partnering with The Way Out Recovery Rehab Santa Clarita to speak at schools in the Santa Clarita community in hopes of helping prevent more tragedies like the one the Evans family endured. 

Related: Katie Evans’ Husband Sends PSA: ‘Do Not Drink And Drive During The Holiday Season’ (VIDEO)

In addition to speaking out against the decision to drive drunk, Evans is also sharing his belief that it is everyone’s responsibility to speak up if they see someone else who has been drinking get behind the wheel of a car.  

“You need to say something,” Evans said. “Sometimes people will say, ‘Hey, that’s none of my business.’ I say, ‘I don’t know why drinking and driving would be part of my business. I never drank a day in my life, and yet here I lost my wife from it. So ultimately, we all have a responsibility to help out. In a day of Uber and Lyft, there’s really no excuse for drinking and driving.” 

In Santa Clarita, drug issues are a major concern for many. The mission of The Way Out Recovery Rehab Santa Clarita is to provide high quality, effective alcohol and drug rehab outpatient services to the Santa Clarita Valley. The Santa Clarita rehab’s goal is to assist adolescents, adults and their loved ones in becoming happily and usefully whole, free from drug addiction. Those seeking alcohol and drug treatment in Santa Clarita, a drug rehab in Santa Clarita or a teen drug rehab can rest assured that The Way Out Recovery SCV’s philosophy is to teach life-long coping skills and strategies to assist in improving quality of life and living happily and meaningfully without the need of destructive behaviors.

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