HARDIN COUNTY, Ky. — A Hardin County high school is mourning the death of student killed in a car wreck over the weekend.
Eighteen-year-old Kimberly Analiese Lindner, a senior at John Hardin High School, died Sunday morning after her car went off the road hitting a guardrail, bounced back into traffic and was hit by semi-truck on I-65 in Hart County. She died at the hospital.
Hardin County Schools Superintendent Teresa Morgan issued a statement on Monday about the tragic loss.
"Analiese was a tremendous student with an extremely bright future – her potential was unlimited, and she was on her way to success in whatever career field she would have chosen," Morgan said.
Lindner was pursuing her high school diploma as well as an associate's degree through the district's Early College and Career Center's partnership with the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. She already had 30 college credits. Christian Winkler was her lab partner at ECTC.
“We lost a very good person,” he explained. “She had such a bright future ahead of her. She was going to graduate from high school with an associate’s, and she just got accepted into the University of Louisville.”
He told WHAS 11 News that he gave Analiese a study guide less than 24 hours before the deadly crash.
“The most haunting this is this. I remember flipping on my phone and seeing 'active 12 hours ago,’” he said.
She was also a member of the FCTC Fishing Club.
“I asked her why she wanted to join the fishing club and she was like 'to fish, duh' and that just really kind of stuck with me, she was always charismatic, willing to help out,” Fishing Club President, Devin White said.
"She was loved and adored by her family, friends, teachers and all of those with whom she made contact," Morgan said.
The grief looming over the John Hardin High hallways on Monday is something students have sadly felt before.
Lindner is the third student that John Hardin High School has lost in the last six months in a car accident. In October of 2018, Kat Peeter and Jacob Barber were killed when a suspect running from police hit their car.
Morgan said that Lindner's death, while tragic on its own, also served as a painful reminder of the loss of Peeter and Barber.
"Those wounds are reopened as we begin mourning for Analiese," she said.
“They're our kids, we worry about them whether they're in our building or outside the building,” Principal Mark Wells added.
He referred to the student body as a family that’s leaning on each other through such tragedy.
“It's been difficult, but we'll get through it.”
Hardin County Schools will have additional counselors available for students and staff for as long as they are needed.
Police are still investigating the wreck on I-65. The driver of the semi-truck was not hurt.
► Contact reporter Heather Fountaine at hfountaine@whas11.com and follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Heather) and Facebook.