Wyandotte High School grad killed in crash was ‘just living her best life,’ family says

Ashanti Hill always had a hard time sitting still.

The 19-year-old was full of laughter, bounding with energy and enjoying life after high school.

In early October, Hill, known to loved ones as “Shanti,” died in a crash that also killed her 19-year-old and 17-year-old friends in Kansas City.

LaTania Moore, 51, said her niece, who was from Kansas City, Kansas, was affectionate as a child, always greeting family with a hug and a kiss.

“Up to today, she would just go into the bed where her mom is and hug her and kiss her and tell her how pretty she was and how she loved her,” Moore said.

Hill attended Northwest Middle School, where she was a member of the cheerleading team. In May 2022, she graduated from Wyandotte High School, according to her obituary. She was also a member of Forest Grove Baptist Church.

As she became a young woman, she glowed, Moore said. Hill, who was small in stature and loved to get her hair done and put on makeup, was destined for a career in beauty and modeling, she said.

Raeshawn Hill, 26, is the second-oldest sister in the family of five. Often, she joked, the age gap between herself and Ashanti Hill was obvious.

If the elder sister saw Hill in a bar she would walk right back out, joking that she was too old to party with her energetic younger sister.

If they all sat around for too long during family dinners on Sundays, Ashanti Hill would say: “Get up. Let’s do something!” her sister said.

Thanks in large part to Ashanti Hill, a family dinner could turn into a party. She loved dancing to hop hop and R&B. And, family said, she loved to express herself through beautiful outfits for a night on the town.

“She was really just living her best life,” Raeshawn Hill said of her sister, who would have turned 20 on New Year’s Day.

But Ashanti Hill was also serious about her family and future.

In saving up for a car, Hill kept to a strict budget while working at Dave’s Hot Chicken and at a temp agency, her sister said.

When Raeshawn Hill needed someone to watch her son while she worked, Ashanti Hill was always waiting for her nephew with open arms. When their grandmother was not well enough to get up the stairs by herself, Hill would lend an arm and bring her plates of food.

“She was always the person there that would help you figure it out,” Raeshawn Hill said. “She was always the one you could depend on.”

The crash

Just before 1 a.m. on Oct. 1, Hill was driving a black Ford Taurus “at a high rate of speed” north on Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard when she lost control of the vehicle and struck a tree near East 45th Terrace, police said at the time. Raeshawn Hill said she’s been told the same story.

Aria Mia Gonzalez, 17, was in the front passenger seat and Aniyah Lewis, 19, was in the back seat. All three were from Kansas City, Kansas.

Hill’s family said the three were friends, though they were not sure how long they had known each other.

The Star could not reach family of Lewis. The family of Gonzalez declined to do an interview, but in a GoFundMe created for her, said the teen survived cancer and was a mother to a baby daughter.

“(Gonzalez) was a beloved family member/friend who brought immense joy to those around her. Our real life warrior who overcame so many tough obstacles,” loved ones wrote in a GoFundMe, adding that she was first diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare cancer, in November 2018, just after her 14th birthday, according to a different GoFundMe.

Raeshawn Hill found out about the crash while she was at work.

“I thought, ‘this can’t be true,’’ she said. “It’s still just unbelievable.”

Her 4-year-old son still wakes up asking for his aunt, who would usually help him get ready for school. Hill still catches herself starting to send her sister funny videos over Facebook.

A candlelight vigil at the crash site brought out more people than Hill realized knew her sister. They sold more than $10,000 in t-shirts with Ashanti Hill’s image.

Hill said her sister was driving on a spare tire on the curved road when the crash happened. She believes that contributed to Hill, Lewis and Gonzalez joining the grim tally of 78 people who have died in wrecks in Kansas City so far this year, according to police.

A crash in July 2019 in the same area also claimed a woman’s life and left multiple children injured. A man who was also speeding drove off the road in the same area and hit a tree in the median, police said at the time.

Dabria Culclager, 30, was a passenger in the car. She died the following day. The driver and four children in the back seats between the ages of 2 and 8 were badly wounded.

“Life is so precious,” said Moore, who also lost her son in 2016. “Love on each other, whether you know them or now. Just love.”