It’s almost been two years since 16-year-old Janis Brown was killed in a car crash involving a drunk driver in Omaha, Neb.
“Janis was extremely loud and just a complete free spirit,” her best friend, Ciera Boatwright, told Global News.
Boatwright is still very close to Janis’ family and said it’s one of the ways she’s able to feel close to Janis.
She recently found another way to feel connected to her best friend — through a teddy bear.
“My niece was going to Build-a-bear and I saw that you could record a sound for them, so I decided to get me and her mom one.”
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Boatwright captured Janis’ mother, Carlotta Vaughan’s reaction to receiving the special stuffed animal.
In the video, the grieving mother is seen opening the box and taking the bear out, but she doesn’t immediately realize what the bear can do.
“Press its finger,” Boatwright is heard saying.
When Vaughan does, a voice recording of Janis singing begins to play and the mother immediately covers her face as she begins to cry.
“Oh my God, girl, thank you so much.”
Janice was passionate about singing. Boatwright said she had always dreamed of becoming famous.
“The fact that so many people have seen her sing now makes me so happy and I know she is smiling so much,” she said about the videos she posted going viral.