Kobie Turner will begin his fourth NFL season with a heavy heart.
Thomas Stevao, a close friend of the Los Angeles Rams star, died over the weekend in a horrific car crash, and Turner and his wife wrote on their Instagram pages on Tuesday they were “devastated” by the passing.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Turner, 27, said while sharing several photos of Stevao on his IG Stories. “I miss you brother.”
“I am so devastated,” Turner’s spouse, Alissa Turner, added. “I’ll miss you forever.”
Stevao was killed in an accident at around 12:59 p.m. on Sunday while he was a passenger in Volkswagen Tiguan that was traveling on a Maryland highway, Maryland State Police announced on Monday.
“The preliminary investigation indicates a Subaru Forester was traveling westbound on I-68 when, for unknown reasons, crossed the grass median and entered the eastbound lanes, where it crashed head-on into” Stevao’s vehicle, the MSP said.
The Subaru’s driver, identified as 79-year-old John Welin, and a passenger in the car, ID’ed as 81-year-old Karen Berneck, as well as Stevao were all pronounced dead on the scene.
Two others in Stevao’s Volkswagen survived, but were transported to local hospitals with injuries, the MSP said.
An investigation into the wreck remains ongoing, MSP officials told the California Post on Wednesday.
Stevao and the Turners all attended Centreville High School near Washington, D.C. in the late 2010s.
Kobie, one of the Rams’ best defensive linemen and a former “The Masked Singer” participant, urged his fans on Instagram to support Stevao’s family by sharing a link to his obituary.
Stevao was 25 years old.
