A makeshift memorial for the teens is shown at the site Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. AP
AP
A winter thrill ride in a quiet Texas neighborhood has left two families shattered and a community searching for answers. Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Angle has been identified as the teen killed when a sled being towed behind a Jeep slammed into a tree in Frisco, and her best friend, fellow 16-year-old Grace “Gracie” Brito, was initially left fighting for her life. What started as a snow-day workaround in a state that rarely sees sledding weather has now become a case study in how quickly fun can turn fatal.
As more details surface, the picture that emerges is painfully ordinary: a Jeep, a plastic sled, a residential street, and two high school sophomores who trusted that the adults and older teens around them had things under control. Instead, the crash has raised hard questions about judgment, supervision, and how communities talk to teenagers about risk when the danger does not look obvious until it is too late.
The crash that changed everything on a Frisco street
Investigators say the sledding run started with a Jeep pulling a plastic sled through a Frisco neighborhood, a setup that might have looked harmless in the moment but left the girls with no real protection once something went wrong. Police in FRISCO, Texas, said the sled was being towed by a Jeep Wrangler when it struck a curb, then careened into a tree, giving the teens almost no time or space to bail out. The impact left Elizabeth with catastrophic injuries and Grace critically hurt, a violent end to what had been framed as a creative way to enjoy rare snow.
Authorities later confirmed that the Two 16-year-old girls were riding together on the sled when it hit the curb and then the tree in Frisco, with both teens thrown into the collision’s full force. Elizabeth, a sophomore at Wakeland High School, was identified as the girl who died shortly after the crash, according to local reports that first named her. A separate account noted that the sled was still tethered to the Jeep when it hit the tree, underscoring how little control the girls had once the vehicle’s path went off line and how a simple curb became the trigger for a deadly chain reaction described in a Tragic Sledding Accident summary.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Angle and Grace “Gracie” Brito: best friends at the center of the tragedy
Friends and family describe Elizabeth “Lizzie” Angle as the kind of teenager who lit up hallways at Wakeland High School, where she was a 16-year-old sophomore involved in school life and social media like any other student her age. One tribute identified Elizabeth Angle specifically as a 16-year-old sophomore at Wakeland High School, and another remembrance referred to her as Elizabeth “Lizzie” Angle, emphasizing how tightly knit her circle of friends had been and how quickly word of her death spread the following morning. A separate post naming Gracie Brito alongside Elizabeth underscored that the girls were known together as much as individually, a pair whose bond was obvious even to casual acquaintances.
Grace “Gracie” Brito, also 16, was a Texas cheerleader whose life revolved around school spirit, friends, and the kind of busy schedule that comes with being deeply involved in campus activities. One account described how Grace Brito was critically injured when the sled careened into the tree and later died after initially being kept alive in the hospital. Another tribute called her a 16-year-old Texas teen who had been on life support following the sledding incident that killed her best friend, highlighting how the community held out hope for days before learning she would not recover. Family members speaking through a fundraising page said Her longtime friend, 16-year-old Elizabeth “Lizzie” Angle, had already died earlier, making Grace’s decline feel like losing the same child twice.
From life support to loss, and a community left grieving
In the hours after the crash, first responders rushed both girls to the hospital, where doctors quickly realized the extent of their injuries. Elizabeth was pronounced dead not long after arriving, while Grace was placed on life support as specialists tried to stabilize her. A detailed account of the incident noted that the crash happened on Sunday and that the second teen was placed on life with her family keeping vigil at her bedside. Another report described how a 16-year-old critically injured girl from the sledding accident in Frisco later died, confirming that the community’s worst fears had come true.
As the news spread, the story of the two best friends holding on to each other in their final moments became a kind of shorthand for the heartbreak. One account quoted relatives saying that they were holding on to each other when the sled hit the tree, a detail that captured both the terror of the crash and the depth of their friendship. Another description of the same moment noted that the teenage girl who died in the crash had been seen on video in the moments before the collision, according to NBC Universal, Inc footage referenced in the coverage, a reminder that what is now a tragedy was, seconds earlier, just another social clip of teens having fun in the snow.
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