Family remembers Randolph County deputy and his wife killed in traffic accident

RANDOLPH COUNTY, NC (WGHP) – The family of a Randolph County Sheriff’s Office deputy and his wife are remembering them just two days after they were killed in a car crash on their way home from vacation.

Breahna Yanez says her stepfather, Deputy John Garner of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, was a man who felt great love and was loved by many.

“He’s the type of guy who doesn’t tell you how he feels. But before he goes to bed, he comes up to you and says, ‘I love you,'” Yanez said.

He served the community for 22 years before retiring and then returning to the Sheriff’s Office to work part-time as a bailiff.

Yanez knew him as a comedian who always made you smile.

This trait caught the attention of her mother, Alisha Garner, who met John on a blind date about 10 years ago.

“My mom went to a festival with friends and she was the only single person in the group and he was the only single person in the other group. … She came home that night and said, ‘I found someone,'” Yanez said.

Yanez says it was love at first sight, and the couple married in 2018. Alisha just celebrated her 50th birthday on May 25.

“And she told me, ‘Don’t give me a birthday party, I haven’t had one since I was a kid.’ And I resisted a little bit … On Saturday, she came up to me at the end of the night and said, ‘I’m so glad you did that,'” Yanez said.

Yanez says John and Alisha often took trips to the beach.

“That was their retreat. That was their happy place. They would go to Cherry Grove and just be by the water and in the lazy river, and my mom would collect shells to take home,” Yanez said.

According to RCSO, the couple was on their way home from the beach when they were killed in a car crash on Wednesday.

Yanez says it happened at the intersection of Rough and Ready Road and Old Stake Road in Columbus County.

While the RCSO and the surrounding community mourn their deaths, Yanez felt it was important to let everyone know who the Garners were.

“Because that’s just who they are, and that’s who we are as a family. There’s no feeling of looking back and thinking, ‘We wish we had shared more love,’ or ‘I wish we had been closer.’ We did that every day,” Yanez said.

Funeral arrangements for the couple have not yet been finalized.