Woman Mourning Her Husband, 22, and Their 1-Year-Old Daughter, Who Died Days After the Couple Got Married

A heartbreaking tragedy has struck a young Kentucky woman who lost both her husband and their 1-year-old daughter in a car crash—just days after she and her partner had married.

On July 26, 22-year-old Hunter Lyons and his infant daughter, Oakleigh Payne, were killed in a collision in Kentucky, according to a statement from Kentucky State Police. Macey Lyons, Hunter’s wife and Oakleigh’s mother, survived the crash and was airlifted to the University of Louisville Hospital to be treated for her injuries.

Macey’s mother, Leigh Ann Payne-Weisser, confirmed her daughter’s hospitalization in a Facebook post, adding that the family had been “on their way home from their honeymoon in Pigeon Forge” at the time of the crash.

Authorities said the collision occurred when 48-year-old Joseph Maynard, driving a Ford F-150, “for unknown reasons, crossed the center line and struck” the vehicle carrying the Lyons family. Maynard was pronounced dead at the scene by the Breckinridge County Coroner’s Office.

According to the couple’s wedding page, Hunter and Macey had just tied the knot on July 19 during a ceremony in Hawesville—only one week before the crash.

Hunter was remembered in an online obituary as someone who “enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, riding horses, tractors and his 4-wheeler,” and who frequently “sang and played his guitar for church services.”

Oakleigh, born in February 2024, was described in the tribute as “a very loved little girl.”

“Her smile was like a ray of sunshine and shone through in her sassy personality,” the obituary read. “She enjoyed being outdoors, feeding apples to the horses and riding in the side-by-side. She and her Daddy shared a love of eating. She was funny and smart and loved her baby doll.

Funeral services for Hunter and Oakleigh will be held Saturday, Aug. 2, at a cemetery in Custer. A silent auction benefiting Macey is scheduled for Aug. 11.