Ali Spice, a former Hooters girl who garnered almost a million followers on TikTok, died with two other friends when a wrong-way driver plowed into their car on State Road 44 near DeLand early Sunday, friends and family said on Tuesday.
Angela Gillis, who spoke to the News-Journal on Tuesday, said her brother, Kyle Moser, 25, of Daytona Beach, was also killed in the car with Spice, 21, whose real name is Ali Dulin. Gillis said her brother, Dulin, and another friend, Ava Fellerman, were killed in the crash.
The driver of the vehicle, Devin Perkins, 21, Dulin’s boyfriend, was seriously injured, she said. The friends were heading home after a night out in Orlando, Gillis said.
Zachary Wilkerson, of DeLeon Springs, and RJ Fleming, of DeLand, said Tuesday that Perkins was well known in the New Smyrna Beach area as an avid truck fan. The friends said they have known Perkins for two years after meeting him at truck events.
“He was a hard worker and worked for the things he had,” the friends said. Wilkerson and Fleming said they believe Perkins may have met Dulin at a truck event in Daytona. “She was really nice,” Wilkerson said.
Media and internet reports indicate that Dulin gained popularity as a TikTok and social media influencer, often sharing about her experience as a Hooters waitress. She had 919,000 fans following her on TikTok. Fans and friends flooded social media after learning of her passing.
3 die in wrong-way crash:3 killed, 3 seriously injured in wrong-way crash on S.R. 44 near DeLand
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Florida Highway Patrol investigators said Sunday that the driver that caused the crash was driving a Toyota Tacoma west in the eastbound lane of State Road 44 when it crashed head-on at 2:20 a.m. with the car driven by Perkins.
The Toyota Tacoma then crashed into a second vehicle. A third vehicle avoided the crash but hit debris. In a brief 9-1-1 recording released Tuesday, a caller reported that lots of debris was in the roadway.
“We are stopped. We can’t go through because there is so much debris on the road,” the woman told a dispatcher. “I don’t know how I am going to get through.”
The driver of the Toyota Tacoma fled the scene, and a Volusia County sheriff’s K-9 unit helping in the search for the suspect, failed to locate him, troopers said.
On Tuesday, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said her agency is not releasing any more information on the crash as it is still under investigation.
“There is no update at the moment to provide,” Crescenzi said. “Once we have a suspect in custody, then we will push out an updated press release.”
Gillis said her family is not pleased with the length of time it took to inform them of Moser’s death. It was not until 5 p.m. on Sunday that troopers sent a Lake County deputy to notify her mother of his passing, Gillis said.
“We are utterly disgusted with FHP,” Gillis said.
Moser, fondly known as KJ, was a server at Top of Daytona Restaurant in Daytona Beach. In addition to his restaurant job, he also enjoyed fashion design, his sister said.
“He sold his clothing online,” Gillis said.
Her brother had a large following on social media and used the medium to organize help for the charity Save the Children and beach cleanups.
“He would post on social media that a beach cleanup will be done and like a hundred people would show up,” Gillis said.
Moser enjoyed sharing things about his journey in life on social media and was inspirational to friends and family, his sister said.
He was the youngest of five siblings.
“His big beautiful smile,” Gillis said when asked what she will miss most of her brother. “He was so full of life and he always inspired us to live a full life as well.”