Breaking horrible news

This is more of a just putting something out there to vent my feelings than anything else, so please just bear with me.

Sitting at my desk last night, I get a look at the front page and see that a 14-year-old girl I know very well (think known her since she was a baby) was killed in a car accident Monday morning.
Shocked, my brain slowly realizes that her father will never know if I don't tell him. The mother was in no condition to call (she was in the hospital too) and her parents actively hate him to the point that they would never call him.
I try to call him but there is no answer. I haven't spoke to this guy in five years (our lives took different paths back then) but I know that he needs to know. I leave a message pleading that he call me back, but nothing.
He calls me back this morning and he's in tears, as he just read that his baby girl had died in a front-page story. He's not mad at me at all, he's actually very happy that I thought enough of him to call and try to get in touch to tell him.
I expect to rekindle a friendship here (we used to be inseparable), but this was surely not the way I wanted to get back in touch with him.
Please, just keep them all in your thoughts, she was an amazing girl and I went to certain sporting events with the knowledge that she was going to seek me out and we were going to get a laugh or two.

 

Holy shit. that's brutal.

 

Shit. Sorry to hear that.

 

Sorry, man. That's a tough spot.

You've got a spine to be willing to be the one to make that call. Good for you.

 

You're a class act for trying to get in touch with the guy.

Other than that, all I can think of to say is Damn.

 

Admirable that you'd make the effort to contact him. For the record, I don't think you were obligated to do so.

 

You're a good man, PR. Good on you for thinking so highly of someone with whom you had falling out of touch.

 

How I know the guy...

He married my sister three different times, so the guy is a brother to me. My sister said she would have done it but they haven't spoke since their final divorce.
My best friend and I were fighting back and forth about how it wasn't our place, but we decided that someone had to say something.
He even said to me, "If you guys didn't try to call me and I didn't read it in the paper I would have never known that she was dead."

 

Christ that might be the saddest thing I've ever read.

It was obvious from your initial post that he was not in communication with his family, but wow.

 

I know, it kills me.

 

PR: You're a good man, brother... major props to you for having a big heart.

RIP to the young lady and all my best to her family.

 

I'm surprised the police released the name before all the immediate family was notified. That is brutal stuff Roy. I'm sure your efforts probably helped soften the tragic news even a bit.
I've been put in a position like that, I have immense respect for those who do it as a regular part of their job. I've talked with a police chaplain and an Army chaplain - they both say that when it doesn't rip you up a little to tell someone, especially a stranger that they've lost a loved one, it's time to stop doing it.