They were young, they were in love, and by all accounts, they had their whole lives in front of them. Then Saturday night happened. Just after 10 p.m. on May 16, 2026, a quiet stretch of Freeport Road in Summit Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, turned into a scene of unimaginable grief. Skyler B. Gray, 22, of Cadogan, and his girlfriend, Nevaeh S. Schweinsberg, 19, of Butler, were both killed when the 2016 Honda Accord Skyler was driving veered off the road, flipped over, and slammed into a tree. Friends confirmed the two were dating, and that detail alone has gutted the communities of Cadogan and Butler in ways that words can barely touch.
Nevaeh’s name means “heaven” spelled backwards — and people who knew her say that wasn’t just a name, it was a description. She was the kind of girl who lit up a room without even trying. She attended Butler Senior High School, where she was known for being creative, warm, and deeply caring. At just 19, she was still figuring out what chapter of her life came next, and now that chapter will never be written. Her passing has left family, classmates, and friends completely broken.
Skyler, on the other hand, was the guy everyone remembers making them laugh. A childhood friend, Tyler Butler, who went to Butler High School with him, told reporters he was the kind of person you just wanted to be around. “He made me laugh, hung out all the time, got a little bit in trouble at school, but you know, that’s what kids do,” Tyler said. Skyler had been raised in Cadogan, attended Freeport Area High School, and was known around his community as someone full of life, ambition, and an infectious personality. At 22, he was just getting started.
But the most heartbreaking part of this story isn’t just the two lives lost — it’s the one that’s still hanging in the balance. Riding in the back seat that night was Nevaeh’s 17-year-old sister, Maliyah Schweinsberg. When the car rolled, Maliyah was violently ejected from the vehicle. Emergency responders airlifted her by STAT Medevac helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh — a Level 1 trauma center — where she arrived with suspected serious injuries. As of the latest reports, Maliyah has been awake and alert, and her mother says she is improving. But the road ahead is long and uncertain, and their mother is sitting in a hospital, grieving one daughter while praying another survives.
State police confirmed that alcohol is suspected as a contributing factor in the crash, and an active investigation is still ongoing. According to their reports, Skyler was driving west on Freeport Road near Headland Road when the vehicle began to spin. The car drifted off the left side of the road, overturned, and struck a tree with catastrophic force. Both Skyler and Nevaeh were pronounced dead right there at the scene. The crash site has since been cleared, but a roadside memorial — covered in flowers, crosses, and photographs — now marks the exact spot where two young lives ended far too soon.
The community’s response has been overwhelming. A local pastor organized a candlelight vigil so people could come together, pray, hug each other, and just breathe through the pain collectively. “Sometimes everybody grieves in their own little place, and you just need a time to come and hug somebody and just cry a little bit,” the pastor said. Butler Area School District also stepped in quickly, making grief counselors available at Butler Senior High School for students and staff. Their superintendent extended the district’s deepest sympathies to Nevaeh’s family and asked the community to pray for Maliyah’s full recovery.
Separate GoFundMe campaigns have been set up for both the Gray and Schweinsberg families to help cover funeral costs, hospital expenses, and other financial burdens that come with tragedies like this. Community members have been rallying behind both families with an outpouring of love and donations. For Maliyah’s mom especially — a woman who lost one child and is sitting bedside with another — every bit of that support matters more than words can say. As one community member put it, this is a mother who is “grieving but can’t fully grieve because she’s on this journey with her other daughter of survival.” Summit Township will not forget Skyler Gray and Nevaeh Schweinsberg. Not now, not ever.
