54°
The 15-year-old Newark girl was driving a stolen Jeep that crossed a double-yellow line and struck a westbound Acura RDX in Princeton earlier this month, according to her mom and local police.
Majia and the other driver, Jodi Marcou, 61, of the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick, were both pronounced dead at the scene.
A 14-year-old passenger in the Jeep was hospitalized with serious injuries, police and the teen's mom said.
Horner says she's heartbroken that her daughter took two lives.
"I feel horrible because [Marcou] has her own family grieving and I am sorry that it happened," Horner said. "I wish it never would have happened. I can’t take anyone’s pain away."
According to her LinkedIn profile, Marcou had worked as a development specialist at Rutgers University since 2018.
She previously was program coordinator of the Rutgers Jewish Film Festival. She was a 1980 graduate of Rider University, with a degree in management and organizational behavior.
The tragic series of events began around 12:40 p.m. Nov. 7 with a report of an attempted car theft in the 100 block of Clover Lane in Princeton, police said. The victim reported seeing three suspects swipe his black 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Police spotted the Jeep heading west on Clover Lane. Close behind was a 2015 Range Rover that had just been stolen from a home on Dodds Lane.
The vehicles soon split up, with the Range Rover heading down Princeton-Kingston Road. It was later found abandoned in Newark, police said.
The Jeep driven by Majia was headed in the opposite direction on Princeton-Kingston Road when police said it struck Marcou's Acura around 1:10 p.m.
Horner's mom says she is wracked with both grief and regret over the incident.
"[Majia] wasn't a car thief. She wasn't a bad kid," she said. "She followed someone down there and made a bad decision. At the end of the day that wasn't what she did. She was a normal little girl."
A student at Newark Kipp Collegiate High School, Majia wanted to be an entrepreneur and was passionate about collecting sneakers, her mom said.
The night before the crash, the Horner family gathered around the television in their Newark home to watch movies together, she said.
Majia "was funny, she was smart. She was the rock of the family," Horner told Daily Voice. "She loved her siblings and her friends. She was loving, caring. She was very protective of our family. She wanted to be so many things."
A GoFundMe page launched for Majia's funeral expenses had raised more than $100 as of Wednesday morning.
Nearly 400 people attended a memorial held for Majia. Her mom says the house feels emptier without her.
A funeral service for Majia will be held from 10-11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, at New Point Baptist Church.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Elizabeth and receive free news updates.
