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She died in a head-on collision on Thanksgiving, just minutes from home

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and Janiya Conquest had just returned home from a morning shift selling shoes at the Deptford Mall Macy's.

Janiya Conquest, 19, died in a violent crash Thanksgiving morning when the car she was in collided head-on with another vehicle.
Janiya Conquest, 19, died in a violent crash Thanksgiving morning when the car she was in collided head-on with another vehicle.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and Janiya Conquest had just returned home from a morning shift selling shoes at the Deptford Mall Macy's.

Conquest, 19, let out her American bulldog, Bones, cleaned up the children's toys in her family's Winslow Township apartment, and braided the hair of her 8-year-old sister, Madyson. That night, Conquest went out and stayed with friends.

Her family believes she was on her way home about 7:25 the next morning - and was only minutes away - when the Chevrolet Malibu in which she was a passenger crossed the center line on Williamstown Road, crashed into an oncoming Honda Civic, and overturned.

Conquest, who had planned to work Thanksgiving so she could have enough money to buy her family Christmas gifts, was thrown into a field next to the road, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

So, too, was Joel Hutton, 23, the Malibu's driver.

The Civic's driver, Jillian Farrell, 19, of Williamstown, survived and was taken to Cooper University Hospital.

Farrell's father, Chuck, said on Facebook last weekend that she had stitches and broken bones but had left the hospital in good condition by Sunday.

"There is no doubt, whether you believe or not, she had some angels looking over her this day," he wrote. He could not be reached Tuesday.

The tragic encounter transformed a day meant for celebration into one of grief for the families of the two who died.

"Janiya was the most beautiful angel," her grandfather Ed Conquest Morales said Friday. He had walked into her bedroom that morning, hoping she would be there when he opened the door.

How Conquest and Hutton knew each other isn't clear, but Hutton also recently worked in Deptford Mall, at a Hallmark store, where he was known for working well with customers.

"He was a nice kid," store manager Faith Evanoff said. "It's a tragedy."

The family of Hutton, who lived in Berlin, could not be reached for comment. In previous posts on his Facebook page, they had voiced excitement about his future.

"I AM SO PROUD OF MY SON, WHO IS GROWING UP TO BE SUCH A GOOD MAN," Gregg Hutton wrote in March, below a photo of a smiling Joel. "I LOVE THIS GUY SO MUCH."

"YOU WOULD MAKE ANY PARENT PROUD," he added.

Joe Sparacio, owner of Joe's Pizza & Pasta & Subs in Winslow, said Joel Hutton had been a regular customer.

"We are saddened to say, that we have lost a special customer of ours," the shop's Facebook page said Friday. "Our sincerest condolences goes out to the family of Joel Hutton."

Conquest's family said Monday that she was one of 10 children and was raised mostly by her grandparents in Winslow.

Her dazzling smile, big dimples, and long eyelashes made her consider a career in modeling, the family said, but she decided it would entail too much travel and went in another direction.

She graduated from Winslow Township High School in 2014 and attended Camden County College, where she was studying computer science. She was good at programming and believed she could turn that skill into a job, her grandmother Wanda Conquest Morales said.

"She was just a good girl, a sweet girl, trying to figure out her life," she said.

Conquest was particularly close to her brother, Shamar, 22, who said he taught her that "a good listener makes a good person," and that she needed to think carefully before making big decisions.

"It was my job to protect her," he said.

Conquest loved to sing, her family recalled, and Beyoncé and Adele were her favorite artists. She also enjoyed doing her family's and friends' hair and makeup.

Madyson, whose hair Conquest did the night before she died, still can't comprehend the loss of her big sister. She was told her sister had been hurt and that Jesus had taken her home, according to Bobbi Poland, a neighbor who is helping the family cope.

But death is a difficult concept for an 8-year-old to grasp.

"She thinks that she's coming back," Wanda Conquest Morales said.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help Conquest's family pay for funeral expenses. Nearly $5,000 had been raised as of Tuesday evening.

A viewing will be on Tuesday, Dec. 6, from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by a funeral service, at Bethany Baptist Church, 1100 Gibbsboro Rd., Lindenwold.

It was unclear Tuesday whether services had been set for Hutton.

mboren@phillynews.com

856-779-3829 @borenmc