LANDIS, N.C. -- The headlights of passing cars illuminated the shattered glass along Main Street in Landis Wednesday night--evidence of a deadly crash there Tuesday night.

Wednesday night, neighbors like Margaret Gibson placed flowers at a makeshift memorial. She says, "This is a small town. It could have been any one of us driving down here stopping at a stop sign that this happened to."

Police say 20-year-old Leeanna Newman was killed after another driver, Rigoberto Guillen Martinez, crossed the center line and slammed into her car head-on.

Newman was eight months pregnant; her unborn child also died.

From the mangled wreckage, it's hard to believe Newman's toddler survived.

Authorities say the child was in a car seat that was properly strapped in, something child safety expert Janice Williams believed saved the little girl's life. "They're effective in reducing severe injury or death 71 percent of the time."

But for Gibson and so many others, the tragedy is painful reminder of how precious life is.

She believes, "It's like you could go any day, you know. I mean when God calls you that's it. For that little baby not to have a scratch on her, God bless her. "

A Tragic Accident

Witnesses say police were following a red Jeep Cherokee driven by Martinez down South Main Street when the driver lost control in a curve and slammed head-on into a two-door white Saturn near West First Street around 6 p.m.

Police say Martinez was going around 100 miles per hour.

Expectant mother Newman, of Salisbury, was critically injured. She was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where she died overnight.

The victim’s family said the young mother was looking forward to having a second child, and she loved life and was special to everyone she knew.

The man charged in Newman’s death was taken to Northeast Medical Center in Concord and then transported to CMC for surgery late Tuesday. Martinez was listed in fair condition Wednesday morning.

Crash, Aftermath Involved Many

Tommy Wilbanks was driving on Main Street and saw the accident happen, "I said, 'Mom, they're having a high speed chase', and the truck hit the white car and (the white car) done about four or five flips that way."

He and other witnesses jumped out of their cars when they saw the wreckage. Wilbanks reached into the mangled Saturn and grabbed the victim’s daughter.

"I have two little babies of my own, what else could I do than grab her?,” he said. “She had glass in her eye, and blood running out of her mouth, all I did was hold her."

Wilbanks said the young woman’s death has hit him hard.

“I don't know the girl, never seen her in my life, but I felt close like there was a connection there. It got to me," he said.

Landis Police Chief Reggie Faggart says a Kannapolis police officer was behind the Jeep, but he was not involved in a chase.

"He had witnessed him in Kannapolis doing some stuff, but he was trying to catch up to him to get him stopped," Faggart said.

Kannapolis police said Martinez was driving erratically before the crash and had hit several other cars.

Investigators still have to determine whether alcohol was involved, Martinez's status in the United States; and whether the death was the result of a police chase.

Martinez will be charged with felony death by motor vehicle. The Rowan County district attorney will decide if any other charges will be filed.

Man’s Immigration Status Under Scrutiny

Martinez has a Mexican driver’s license but no state license. Federal officials are waiting on some answers before they get involved.

“They called us and said they are investigating his (immigration) status,” Faggart said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will interview Martinez from his hospital bed at CMC in the coming days.

A neighbor told Eyewitness News he knew Martinez worked as a painter in Landis, but he didn’t know if the man is in the country illegally.

Faggart says he's more concerned with the emotional toll the accident has taken on his officers and his town than the driver's immigration status.

"Everybody's in shock. Everybody said it couldn't happen here, couldn't happen here, but it does," he said.