Schoolgirl, 9, crushed to death in freak accident as brother begs for her to come back

A mother and father have been left heartbroken after their daughter was killed in a freak accident outside her home.

Rose Elizabeth Hendricks had turned back from a trip to the grocery store with her mother Jayme Denamur and brother due to a thunderstorm when she was felled by a neighbour's tree before she could make it safely inside. Part of the tree broke off in the wind and trapped the schoolgirl, narrowly missing her sibling.

Up to 20 neighbours rushed to help but thetree was too heavy to lift off the 9-year-old without assistance. First responders arrived at the scene and a car jack was used to free Rose, who was conscious and breathing with traumatic injuries when the accident happened on Monday afternoon.

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Neighbour Peter Xiong, who provided the car jack, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette: "I looked outside and the tree was falling. I didn't even realize a body was under there. The tree was heavy, it was a big tree."

Sadly the youngster later succumbed to her injuries in hospital and Rose died at 10.15pm that night after fighting for her life for six hours. "She was very strong," said her bereft mother. "She fought until she couldn't no more."

Jayme said her son was struggling to come to terms with losing his sister, who loved softball and dancing. "It's just so hard on us and her brother doesn't know how to take it quite yet," she said. "This morning he just begged and asked for his sister to come back."

Jayme and Rose's father Richard Krystof asked to keep a piece of the tree after it was completely cut down the following day. They also launched a crowdfunding page, appealing for the community's help to fund their beloved daughter's funeral, with a vigil planned for the schoolgirl too.

"She left her family behind grieving her sudden loss. She loved softball, artwork and videogames," the GoFundMe's page said, with more than £12,000 raised in a couple of days. "Rose enjoyed being by her brother's side every day, she always made sure her brother was safe and taken care of with his health and always put others first."

"She made the day better if it was a bad day," said Rose's dad. "[She had] comebacks for everything you throw at her." "She loved cracking jokes," Jayme added.

Jayme revealed her "miracle baby" had been born with collapsed lungs, with doctors initially fearing she wasn't going to make it. Nine years on and a thunderstorm warning was in place when the freak accident happened in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the United States, with reports of winds reaching up to 59 mph.