Well Known Social Media Influencer, Mama A, Dies After Speeding At 100MPH, The Wrong Way On Interstate 85, Kills A Marine As Well In Another Car

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — TikTok star Alyshia Rushing, known to more than half a million followers as Mama A, died in a predawn head-on crash on Interstate 85 that also killed a young U.S. Marine, and online rumor mills immediately filled the gap police have not.

Rushing, 26, a Tuskegee mother of four, was driving a 2013 Kia Sorento northbound in the southbound lanes when it slammed into a 2015 Toyota Tacoma driven by 20-year-old Marine Landon Dunn shortly after 2 a.m. on Aug. 22, according to a preliminary crash report obtained by local news. Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene. A female passenger in Rushing’s SUV was hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. One of the vehicles was on fire when first responders arrived.

Police have not released a cause. Toxicology tests for both drivers remain pending at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Authorities have not confirmed alcohol, drugs, or the 100 mph speed circulating on social media.

Rushing built her following as a “real, raw, young mama,” posting about keeping four kids afloat. After her death, her mother, Crystal Smitherman, launched a GoFundMe calling her “an amazing mother of four, a content creator, and one of the strongest women I have ever known.”

A separate fundraiser for Dunn was started by fellow Marine Robert Howard, who wrote that they had served together for a year and a half and that losing him at 20 “has been devastating.” Howard said Dunn had been heading to see family.

Two families are now burying young parents and a young service member. Four children lost their mother. A Marine’s family lost a 20-year-old. The toxicology lab, not TikTok comments, will decide whether alcohol was in the picture.

Montgomery police say the investigation is ongoing.