Social media has been flooded with prayers, condolences and heartbreaking messages for the four children who lost their mother when popular TikTok creator Alyshia Rushing, known online as “Mama-A,” died in an Alabama interstate crash.

Those children deserve every one of those prayers.

But there was another family shattered on Interstate 85 that morning.

His name was Landon Dunn.

He was 20 years old. He was a United States Marine. And according to the preliminary crash report, he wasn't the driver traveling the wrong way.

Landon Dunn in his Marine Corps uniform.

Source: User-supplied image.

A Story Dominated by the Influencer

Alyshia Rushing, known online as “Mama-A.”

Source: Social media

Rushing, 26, had built an enormous online audience, with nearly 540,000 TikTok followers watching content centered largely around motherhood and her four children.

Following her death, tributes poured across social media. National stories emphasized the children she left behind. Followers prayed for them, mourned “Mama-A” and remembered a woman they felt they knew through their screens.

The compassion is understandable. Four children lost their mother.

But amid that enormous outpouring of sympathy is an uncomfortable question:

Where is the same attention for the 20-year-old Marine who died after her vehicle allegedly drove directly toward his?

The Preliminary Report Changes the Story

Early reports described what happened August 22 simply as a two-vehicle crash.

The preliminary crash report obtained by WSFA paints a considerably more disturbing picture.

Shortly after 2 a.m., Rushing's 2013 Kia Sorento was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of Interstate 85 in Montgomery.

Coming the other direction — where he was supposed to be — was Dunn in his 2015 Toyota Tacoma.

The vehicles collided head-on in the center lane. Both drivers died. A passenger riding with Rushing survived with injuries described as non-life-threatening.

The report does not yet explain why Rushing was traveling the wrong way.

Questions About What Happened Before the Crash

Since the collision, claims have circulated on social media alleging Rushing had been drinking before getting behind the wheel. Published coverage has also noted those allegations and questions about whether alcohol played a role.

They remain unconfirmed.

The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences has not released toxicology results, and IRC Media will not report that Rushing was intoxicated unless evidence establishes that she was.

There are also online claims alleging extremely high speeds, including claims exceeding 100 mph. Those claims have not been substantiated by the preliminary crash report, which does not establish how fast either vehicle was traveling.

Those distinctions matter.

But so does what investigators already know: whatever caused Rushing to end up there, the preliminary report identifies her vehicle as the one traveling the wrong direction down an interstate shortly after 2 a.m.

Landon Dunn outside of uniform.

Source: User-supplied image.

Landon Was Going Home

Dunn deserves more than being identified as “the other driver.”

The 20-year-old was serving in the United States Marine Corps and was traveling from North Carolina toward Greenville to visit family, according to reporting citing his family and a fundraiser organized by a fellow Marine.

He never made it.

A fellow Marine who organized assistance for Dunn's family described losing a friend after serving alongside him and said Dunn's death had deeply affected his family, friends and fellow Marines.

His family didn't just lose the anonymous second victim of an influencer's fatal accident.

They lost their son. His loved ones lost Landon. His fellow Marines lost one of their own.

And unlike hundreds of thousands of people who knew Rushing through a screen, Dunn didn't have half a million followers ready to make his name trend.

Compassion Cannot Depend on Followers

None of this requires attacking Rushing's children. They are innocent.

They woke up to a world without their mother, and nothing about the circumstances of this collision makes their grief less real. They deserve compassion, support and prayer. Rushing's family lost someone they loved too.

But compassion should not require pretending that both drivers entered this tragedy under identical circumstances.

According to the preliminary crash report available today, one vehicle was traveling the wrong direction on Interstate 85. It was Rushing's.

And coming toward it was a 20-year-old Marine who had a family waiting for him.

That distinction shouldn't disappear simply because one person had nearly 540,000 followers and the other didn't.

Remember His Name

There will be more answers.

Toxicology testing remains pending. Investigators may eventually determine why Rushing was traveling the wrong way, whether alcohol played any role and how fast the vehicles were moving before impact.

Those findings should determine what is reported as fact — not rumors circulating online.

But we don't need toxicology results to remember the person whose life has too often been reduced to a sentence beneath the headline about a TikTok celebrity.

Landon Dunn was 20 years old.

He was a United States Marine.

He was traveling to see people who loved him.

And according to the evidence currently available, he encountered a vehicle coming toward him on the wrong side of an interstate.

So yes, pray for four children who lost their mother. Pray for a family mourning their daughter.

But while social media mourns “Mama-A,” say Landon's name too.

Because his life was worth every bit as much as hers. And his family will be burying someone they loved, too.

IRC Media uses aggregated public data and verified sources; articles reviewed by editorial team to the best of our ability.